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UNIVERSITY
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Centennial of the Social
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THE
’ CENTENNIAL
OF THE
SOCIAL CIRCLE IN CONCORD
March 21, 1882
“Take my wish that your bright social circle on earth
Forever may flourish in cozcord and mirth”
Chas. Morris's Farewell to the Beef Steak Club, London, 1831
CAMBRIDGE
PRINTED AT THE RIVERSIDE PRESS
1882
A1#8l2 }
In accepting the request of the Circle to prepare and
superintend the printing of a suitable volume, containing
the addresses made at the Centennial, with an Appendix, in-
cluding a complete list of members, etc., and the Memoirs of
the Earlier Members before 1795, the fear was expressed that
the performance of the trust would disappoint the expecta-
tions of the Circle. With the kind aid of those most inter-
ested this volume is the result, and in the hope that it will
prove not unworthy of the occasion, and acceptable to the
members, it is respectfully submitted by their obliged assa-
ciate.
JOHN S. KEYES.
ConcorD, AZril, 1882.
To
R. W. EMERSON,
E. R. HOAR,
ELIJAH WOOD,
LORENZO EATON,
E. W. BULL,
SAMUEL STAPLES,
N. B. STOW,
G. REYNOLDS,
RICHARD BARRETT,
J. M. SMITH,
G. M. BROOKS,
GEORGE HEYWOOD,
E. C. DAMON,
H. F. SMITH,
GEORGE KEYES,
H. J. HOSMER,
G. P. How,
R. N. RICE,
J. F. BARRETT,
F. B. SANBORN, :
H. M. GROUT,
E. W. EMERSON,
H. J. WALCOTT,
J. B. WOOD,
Present Members of the Circle.
CONTENTS.
REMARKS OF THE CHAIRMAN, E. R. HOAR
REMARKS OF JOHN S. KEYES
REMARKS OF EPHRAIM W. BULL
REMARKS OF HENRY M. GROUT
POEM OF FRANK B. SANBORN
REMARKS OF GRINDALL REYNOLDS
REMARKS OF WILLIAM W. WHEILDON .
REMARKS OF EDWARD W. EMERSON
LETTER OF DR. EDWARD JARVIS
APPENDIX.
CONSTITUTION
LIST OF MEMBERS ‘ ‘
REPORT ON DATE OF FORMATION
MEMOIRS OF EARLY MEMBERS .
wt
15
17
27
29
37
39
44
49
or
55
63
LIST OF MEMOIRS.
HuMPHREY BARRETT. By Wathan Brooks
SAMUEL BARTLETT. By Fosiah Bartlett
Davip Brown. By F. S. Keyes
EZEKIEL Brown. By G. Reynolds
JOSEPH BROWN . : : :
REUBEN Brown. By William Whiting
EMERSON COGSWELL. By W. S. Robinson
JONATHAN Fay. By } F. Barrett
Jonas HEywoop. By Lorenzo Eaton
JosEePpH HosMER. By Josephine Hosmer
Tuomas HupparD. By Samuel Hoar
JosEPpH Hunt. By William Whiting
DuNCcAN INGRAHAM. By Fostah Bartlett .
ELNATHAN JONES. By ¥. Bartlettand E. Wood .
EPHRAIM JONES. By ¥ Bartlett and E. Wood .
SAMUEL JONES. By F. Bartlett and E. Wood
Jonas Ler. By 7. S. Keyes
PETER WHEELER. By Cyrus Stow
Joun WuitE. By Daniel Shattuck
Epuraim Woop. By Elgah Wood, Fr.
Joun Vose. By Cyrus Warren .
Joun RicHARDSON. By George Keyes
Isaac Hurp. By £. &. Hoar .
Ezra RivLey. By & W. Emerson
. 143
152
- 157
159
- 164
168
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OAS
CENTENNIAL
OF THE
SOCIAL CIRCLE IN CONCORD.
N pursuance of the arrangements for the Centennial,
and the previous invitation, the Social Circle in Con-
cord, with their invited guests, met at the house of Mr.
Reuben N. Rice on the evening of March 21, 1882; and
were called to order by Mr. H. J. Walcott, the Secretary.
On motion of Mr. Rice the Hon. E. R, Hoar was chosen
chairman of the occasion. Taking the chair Judge Hoar
said :—
Gentlemen of the Social Circle, and Ladies connected with it by
blood or marriage, who are to-night its honored guests : —
We are met to celebrate the completion of a
hundred years of the existence of our society.
It is undoubtedly more than a century since
it originated, probably from the Committee of
Public Safety of the early days of the Revolu-
tion, and, according to well authenticated tradi-
tion, about the year 1777 or 1778. But it had
some breaks in the continuity of its organiza-
tion; and its perfect identity can be best estab-
I
2 CENTENNIAL OF THE
lished by the date inscribed in the label on the
cover of this its first and only book of records,
which appears to have been procured for the
use of the Circle in 1782. Nothing, however,
was recorded in the book until the Constitution
was copied into it under the date of 1794, from
which time its history seems to be unbroken and
complete.
The Constitution begins with this preamble:
“ To strengthen the social affections and dissem-
inate useful communications among its members,
we, whose names are hereunto subjoined, do
hereby agree to form ourselves into a society,
by the name of the Social Circle, in Concord,
and to adopt the following rules and regulations,
namely.” And then follow the few simple pro-
visions for electing members, limiting the num-
ber to twenty-five,— about the extent of the
capacity of a Concord parlor, — for holding the
meetings on Tuesday evenings through the win-
ter season from October to March, and for the
modest draught of cider, flip, grog, or toddy,
which the customs of the time deemed suitable
to the hospitality of a social gathering, — asking
a: neighbor “to take something,”— but scrupu-
lously guarding against excess by the injunction
that the entertainment should be moderaze.
And now, with no material alteration of its
original plan, this little institution of our fathers,
this gathering of townsmen and neighbors for
SOCIAL CIRCLE IN CONCORD. 3
friendly and instructive conversation and confer-
ence, sometimes at the house of Mr. John Vose,
at an expense of five shillings and three pence
an evening, but usually at the houses of its
members in rotation, has held on its regular and
peaceful course for one hundred years! With-
out even the cohesion of a corporate existence,
with no secrets or passwords or high-sounding
titles, with only the ties of neighborhood and
friendliness, and a common interest in the wel-
fare of each other and of the town, it has been
a noticeable part of the life and history of Con-
cord. Its Centennial seems to its members wor-
thy of honorable observance. Its founders were
patriots of the Revolution. It has attracted to
its quiet gatherings the substantial farmers, me-
chanics, and traders of the town, and its meet-
ings have been graced by such culture and dis-
tinction as the town could furnish. Among its
members have been the pillars of our little com-
munity. It has included on its roll of one hun-
dred and twenty-four names our most influen-
tial citizens at home, and those best known in
the county and the State: seven clergymen,
nine physicians, fifteen lawyers, two sheriffs of
the county, four deputy sheriffs, four jailers, three
editors, two presidents and two cashiers of the
bank, five judges, three members of Congress,
one lieutenant-governor, and one United States
marshal, members of both branches of the Gen-
4 CENTENNIAL OF THE
eral Court and of the Governor’s Council, treas
urers of the State, county, and town, town clerks
and selectmen, magistrates and deacons. The
average period of membership has been about
twenty years, giving to each member on an aver-
age the opportunity to attend five hundred meet-
ings. Its strength has been in its simplicity,
and in the social affections which it has strength-
ened.
We welcome to-night the wives and daughters
to whose household cares and labors the Social
Circle has been so often and so much indebted ;
and with cordial good wishes to each other, and
tender and respectful memory of our honored
predecessors, at this dividing point in two cen-
turies meet “ to report progress, and ask leave to
sit again.”
At the close of his address, after the applause had sub-
sided, the CHAIRMAN said: ‘“ Gentlemen, our senior member
and respected friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson, whom no Con-
cord meeting or gathering ever failed to delight to hear, I
am told must not be asked to speak to us to-night. His
presence, which fills our number, is itself a source of happi-
ness to all of you.”
Mr. Emerson bowed his acknowledgment of the cordial
greeting of the Circle.
The Cuairman then said: “The exercises of the Circle
this evening are to include such reminiscences and remarks
as those of our members, who are willing to address us,
choose to make. And I will first invite our next, after my-
self, oldest member, who may be considered the historian of
the Social Circle to some extent, who first suggested and
SOCIAL CIRCLE IN CONCORD. 5
has aided so much in carrying out the plan of having a
series of biographies of deceased members, Judge Keyes, to
address us.”
REMARKS OF HON. JOHN S. KEYES.
Mr. Cuarrman, —I had planned in my own
mind something to say, and supposed this meet-
ing would be as the ordinary ones are, somewhat
informal, and that a talk among the members of
the Circle would be in order; but finding myself
within a day or two so much affected by a
serious cold as to have lost what few ideas I
had, and all my voice, and'thinking that I might
not be able to get here to-night, I wrote out (to
send bya friend if I did not come) what I had
to say, and since you have set the example, sir,
of reading, if the Circle will indulge me in the
present state of my lungs, I will read what I
have to offer.
“Little of all we value here,
Wakes on the morn of its hundredth year,
Without both looking and feeling queer,”
says Holmes of “ The Deacon’s One Horse
Shay,” and ‘so may we of this Social Circle
to-night, gathered to celebrate its Centennial.
Whether the rest of the verse, —
“Tn fact there ’s nothing that keeps.its youth,
So far as I know, but a tree, and truth,” —
6 CENTENNIAL OF THE
is equally applicable to us, is not quite so evi-
dent, though our right as a club to partake of
the nature of the tree from which it is cut can-
not well be doubted.
At all events, this spectacle of the presence of
ladies for the first time at our twenty-four hun-
dredth meeting, however queer it may make us
feel and look, is a proof of our youth if not of
our truth, and shows that the world moves, and
we can’t quite help, if we would, moving with it.
But to-night we must begin, according to all
rules, by retracing our steps and going back, in
our thoughts, a hundred years, to see the begin-
ning of this ancient institution.
The Concord of 1782 differed from our own,
not more in size and wealth than in ideas and
opinions. A score or two of dwellings formed
the village; to each and every one either a farm
or a workshop gave the needed support. One
minister, one doctor, and one lawyer, answered
their spiritual, physical, and moral needs. Then
there was no post-office nor regular mail. The
letters were brought and taken by casual trav-
elers or the chances of the road; and the weekly
newspapers, for there were no dailies, by the car-
riers or teamsters, as stages or public convey-
ances had not started. There was no library,
public or private, and but few books. No ly-
ceum, or public lectures, save the regular Thurs-
day sermon in the church. No masonic lodge,
SOCIAL CIRCLE IN CONCORD. 7
and no good templars, not even a temperance
society, and everybody drank what they wanted,
and could get. No clubs, Concord, B. C. W,,
philosophical, or Shakespearian. No women
voters or women’s rights movements. No char-
itable society, bible society, Sunday-school, or
missionary concerts. No Christmas, Fourth of
July, Twenty-second of February, only Fast and
Thanksgiving for holydays, and courts and train-
ings for public amusement. No balls, no socia-
bles, no germans. The meeting-house had nei-
ther fire nor lights, neither vestry nor kitchen, no
pews and no fences; it was open to all comers,
and free to all winds, if only of sound doctrine.
There were no sidewalks, no street lamps, no
water pipes, no fire-engines, no almshouse, no
monuments nor statues, in the town. All these,
_and railroads, telegraphs, and telephones, have
come in this century, and stoves and furnaces
beside. Except the town meeting and the church,
there was not an organization or association of
‘any kind in Concord when this Circle was
formed. Even the school was movable; the
only one, the grammar, kept twelve weeks in
the centre, and six weeks each in the six outer
districts, and the town raised £100 that year,
instead of $12,000 this year, for education, so
called. Dancing was prohibited, musical instru-
ments, save a drum and fife, existed not, singing
schools were not kept, and even psalm singing
8 CENTENNIAL OF THE
had to be deaconed “line by line,” possibly to
enforce “ precept upon precept.”
The Revolution that began here had ended
at Yorktown triumphantly, but peace was not
yet declared, or independence acknowledged. It
was a time of doubt, distress, hardship, and pov-
erty. The Committee of Safety, that for seven
long years had met weekly to consult and help
on the struggle, had done its work and closed
its sessions. The debts of the war were yet to
be paid, the government yet to be established.
There was much to be considered and discussed.
To do this effectively and well there must be
meetings, and these must be social to be useful
and agreeable. So this Social Circle began.
There is of course the mystery and myth about
its origin and founders, common to all great and
ancient institutions, to pique curiosity and start
antiquarian research. The earlier records are
missing, or were never kept. The scrap of bind-
ing on the old and solitary book of records alone
gives the date 1782. But from history and tra-
dition so much has been gleaned, and this is all
we know. What old letter, or diary, or memo-
randum may hereafter turn up most unexpect-
edly, to show that this date is incorrect, we can
only guess. Enough for us is the fact of this
Centennial.
The score of men who first formed the Circle,
Judge Wood, Squire Jonas Heywood, and Cap-
SOCIAL CIRCLE IN CONCORD. 9
tain David Brown, of the Committee of Safety;
Elnathan Jones, Samuel Bartlett, and Deacon
John White, traders of the village ; Humphrey
Barrett, Joseph Hosmer, and Thomas Hubbard,
of the solid farmers; Duncan Ingraham and
Jonas Lee, the gentlemen; Emerson Cogswell
and Ephraim Jones, the tavern keepers; Jona-
than Fay the lawyer, Joseph Hunt the doctor,
Reuben Brown the saddler, Samuel Jones the
blacksmith, Peter Wheeler the butcher, Joseph
Brown the myth, and Ezekiel Brown the army
surgeon, comprised much of the strength and
character of the town. The minister had been
so recently settled and married, that he was con-
sidered too young for the Circle, or perhaps there
were some members who preferred the deacon
to the parson. All these resided in the village,
and were neighbors within easy walking distance
of each other. This may account for not find-
ing the names of other prominent men, who
lived farther off from the centre, in the list.
It was the era of constitution making. The
State had just made hers. The United States
were at work on theirs, and with this spirit in
the air, these men made one for the Circle, so
simple, so wise, so safe, that it has lasted for a
century almost unaltered. It is short; will you
listen to the reading? (See Appendix.)
Observe the simplicity, conciseness, and orig-
inality. No officers to get up election contests
Io CENTENNIAL OF THE
about: a secretary to keep the records was all.
The chairman was the member at whose house
the meeting was held; no fines or penalties for
non-attendance, no assessments to quarrel over,
no rules parliamentary or other to be observed
or broken; an organization, and mode of filling
its vacancies. Only this, and nothing more. Is
it a wonder that it has lasted a century, possess-
ing as it does the charm of a club to which any
one admitted as a member knows that all but
one have voted favorably, and answering a social
need more felt then than now, of personal inter-
course ?
In all these hundred years there have been
found but two changes in this Constitution de-
sirable. One, adopted by common consent rather
than vote, growing out of our changed habits of
life, substituting a supper for the drinks named.
The other, from the growth of the town, making
a ballot for a candidate for membership, in the
place of an application, as, when there are so
many gentlemen ready to join such a circle, the
preferences of the members can thus be ex-
pressed more easily and without black-balling.
As there have been but two changes, so there
have been but two breaks, in its century of ex-
istence. The first arising from the smouldering
heat of the revolutionary troubles, in which Dr.
Ezekiel Brown, that. hot-headed, long-winded,
hard-used, rough-tongued, ill-bred, “jack at all
SOCIAL CIRCLE IN CONCORD. II
trades,” from cobbler, trader, to army surgeon,
would out-talk his neighbors, especially choleric
old Duncan Ingraham, who had always leaned
to the royal side of the quarrel, and as agent
for an English firm had sued and imprisoned
Brown for debt, until the staying away of the
more peaceably inclined left the Circle empty.
The removal from town of one of these com-
batants soon revived the meetings, and it went
on flourishing till one or two members intro-
duced the practice of giving suppers. This did
not meet with favor, and the attendance again
fell off and stopped the meetings for a short
period. Again it was revived; and under the
article providing that the refreshment should be
moderate, it has had no difficulty in “keeping
the even tenor of its way” to the present time.
Of course, in this long period of years, vari-
ous traditions have gathered like mosses on an
old tree trunk about this institution. The most
prominent that was well established in the annals
of the Circle, among the oldest members this
generation has known, and reaches back to the
first third of its life, is, that all the members were
never present at a meeting, and that if they
should all attend, the Circle would inevitably
break up. Various attempts to test the truth of
the first part of this tradition have been made,
but without success, until two years ago, when
accidentally, one pleasant evening while the Cir-
12 CENTENNIAL OF THE
cle were engaged in looking over the printed
account of the centennial meeting of the Boston
Wednesday Club (the only older organization of
the kind in this country), which had been kindly
presented to us, the room gradually filled up,
and it was soon noticed that all but two were
present. They were soon summoned, and for
the first time the whole twenty-five stood up
and were counted. Thereupon it was solemnly
voted, that, instead of breaking up, the Circle
should renew its youth, and here in this cele-
bration you have a proof of how well it has
lived up to that vote. By a curious coinci-
dence, that same evening the first meeting for
organizing the junior club, called the Tuesday,
was held, resulting in a success that promises to
be worthy of its founders! So that, like most
old traditions, when this was actually tested, it
was found that instead of injury resulting ad-
vantages accrued. But two instances, within the
recollection of the oldest member, have occurred
when the meetings have been omitted entirely,
and these were occasioned by the deaths of the
members at whose houses they were to have
been held, both so well remembered by all of
you now present, J. M. Cheney and A. G. Fay,
Esquires.
In this hundred years of existence, ninety-nine
members have left the Circle, half by death, a
sixth by resignation, and a third by removal from
SOCIAL CIRCLE IN CONCORD. 13
Concord. Six only of the past members are
now living, and we are glad to meet even one of
them once more to-night. The absent ones we
trusted and hoped would be with us, but dis-
tance and infirmity have prevented. To that
one present and to those absent, we tender our
congratulations that they have survived so long
their deprivation of the Circle.
And this brings up the consideration of the
great work of the Circle. It, perhaps, has left
undone many things it might and ought, if it has
never done what it ought not; but of all whereof
there is any record, from the vaccination of the
citizens in the early days of that discovery, the
establishment of the Concord Bank, the drainage
of the mill-pond nuisance, the founding of the
cemetery, the improvement of the town in many
ways, the chief and best of its work consists in
the biographies of its deceased members.
Of the ninety-three who have died, all but two
have more or less worthy memoirs written and
read to the Circle, and carefully preserved in its
archives. Copied, in the order of their admis-
sion to the Circle, into the large book (that cap-
tured in a blockade runner was intended for the
records of the confederate government), seventy-
five of these memoirs fill three hundred pages of
this great folio, and the rest, when thus copied,
will add another hundred pages of memorial his-
tory that has no parallel in this country. It is
14 CENTENNIAL OF THE
more than a history of Concord since the Revo-
lution. It is the life and character of the town
for the past century, set down on paper so far as
it can be transcribed and truly photographed.
Of the ninety and nine past members, twenty-
three were of the learned professions, twenty-two
were farmers, twenty mechanics, nineteen traders,
five inn-keepers, three editors, three clerks, two
manufacturers, one historian, one unknown, but
called captain. If there are no-teachers in the
list, it should be noted that the teachers of the
grammar school and academy were for many
years invited as honorary members to attend the
Circle. Five were colonels, two majors, twelve
captains, and many lieutenants of the militia.
Twenty-two were college graduates, nineteen at
Harvard, and three at Dartmouth. Fifty, or one
more than half, were natives of Concord. Five
were bachelors, the rest married,—a majority
but once, a fourth part twice, a tenth part three
times, and the rest so very much married that
the count is not easily kept. As there were no
bachelors in the original list, so there are none
now. -
Such was the Circle in the past. What it is
in the present is before you to-night. Of the
future one thing is certain, that while it lasts
Concord will be safe, even if the School of Phi-
losophy is at one end of the town, and the State
Prison at the other.
SOCIAL CIRCLE IN CONCORD. 15
THE CHAIRMAN said: “ The next oldest member in point
of years is a gentleman who has enjoyed a fame in some
respects exceeding that of most members of the Circle, as not
merely spreading through this country, but making itself
known in France and Italy, the originator: of the Concord
Grape ; and I will ask Mr. E. W. Bull if he has anything
to say about the Circle, or his acquaintance with it?”
REMARKS OF HON, E. W. BULL.
Mr. PresipEnT, — I am an old member of the
club, and know it well; but all that can be said
about the club seems to me has been so well
said, that there should be no repetition of it;
but I want to say how much I like this good
old town of Concord.
I was born in Boston so long since as when
it had its forty thousand and was proud of it.
The population was homogeneous; there was
a manhood and a breadth about the people,
—a liberality which we all boasted of and ad-
mired. °
When, in later years, a pulmonary affection
compelled me to go into the country, it was my
good fortune to come to this town of Concord.
When the doctor said I must go into the coun-
try, I dreaded a suburban residence. “ Suburbs,”
as William Robinson used to say, “are places
where six hundred dollars a year looks down on
five hundred, and if you do not belong to our
coterie, we can have nothing to do with you.”
But in Concord I found a more complete type
16 CENTENNIAL OF THE
of the old-time manhood than we could claim
in Boston. The liberality of the people was
remarkable to me, and to this day it is their
characteristic. It has sent its men to the battle-
field to die for their country; it has sent to
our courts of law and to our Congress men
eminent in character and irreproachable in life.
We may well, I think, boast of those eminent
men who have made, in Congress, our laws, who
have administered our laws, who have fought
our battles, who have stood up for the right
with their utmost strength, and our incorrupti-
ble judges, with whom we have served the State.
To our ladies, I am sure, we owe a debt of grat-
itude which can never be repaid. Foremost in
all good works, in the hospital, even on the bat-
tle-field, in time of war indefatigable in work-
ing for the soldiers, and charitable and helpful
at home to the poor.
I said to you, Mr. President, that I did not
feel that I could make any speech or say any-
thing which would interest you, and I must close
my remarks now. I want to give you a senti-
ment; I want to say, — This good old town of
Concord, may its shadow never be less!
Tue Cuairman: “To pass from the older to the more
recent members of the Circle, we should be happy to hear
something from Dr. Grout.”
SOCIAL CIRCLE IN CONCORD. 17
ADDRESS OF THE REV. H. M. GROUT, D. D.
Mr. Cuarrman, — I am quite at a loss for any
good reason for being called upon to say any-
thing on this occasion. I am neither a historian
nor poet; nor, unfortunately, sufficiently venera-
ble to be able to indulge in personal reminis-
cences. As for anecdote and wit, it is doubtful
if I was ever suspected of any gifts at either.
Possibly it is for the sake of variety that you
have drawn me into this net ; to make the bright
things of the hour more bright by a little suit-
able contrast. In this view, even dullness may
have its place and use.
_It strikes me that one of the good things of
this particular Circle is the agreeable and profit-
able way it provides for spending a portion of
one’s leisure. There is hardly a surer means of
determining the grade of a man’s culture, his
intellectual quality, his moral proclivities, and his
religious character, than by observing where he
goes and what he does when the day’s work is
over. Teach a people to spend their evenings
and holidays and Sundays wisely, and you have
made them prosperous, virtuous, and happy.
You have beforehand settled all the great ques-
tions which so perplex social reformers. Noth-
ing, of course, can rightly or really displace the
restful. and uplifting delights of home. This
may be taken for granted. Anything which
2
18 CENTENNIAL OF THE
robs the home is no blessing: it is a curse.
But families are not made better by complete
isolation. One needs larger social contact with
his kind, —
‘“* After the day’s work, the evening’s guest ;
After weeks of toil, holiday rest.”
It is out of some such natural craving and
need as this that club life has grown. But there
are differences in club life. Not much is to be
said for those kinds which are mainly convivial.
Nor is it certain that the very highest ideal is
reached in the guild, or association of men of
a single class. Mechanics’ associations and art
clubs and literary coteries, which bring together
persons of similar callings and tastes and exclude
others, are excellent. It is doubtful if they are
the best. It has been noticed that one gets sur-
est command of his strongest faculties by culti-
vating those that tend to counterbalance them.
The man of fervid imagination needs the regu-
lation of occupations that require common sense.
Practical business capacity is rather helped than
hindered by indulgence in things that address
the fancy. I do not know that it would be safe,
in this presence, to affirm that .the favorite read-
ing of successful lawyers is generally poetry and
fiction. But this has been said to be the fact.
It is clear that the best balanced men, as men,
are never formed by either pursuits or associa-
tions of a single kind. As a rule, men thus
SOCIAL CIRCLE IN CONCORD. 19
formed are neither sound in judgment nor gen-
erous in spirit.
So I take it to be one of the distinctively good
things of this Circle that it is not made up of
men of one kind. I understand it has always
included persons the most diverse in activity
and thought. One would have to go far to find
a community in which it would be possible to
bring together a company of such varied pur-
suits, and I think I may say so diverse religious
opinions, as are now represented here: the bench,
the bar, the pulpit, medicine, literature, journal-
ism, horticulture, agriculture, banking, manufact-
ures, and trade, — about all the professions and
callings essential to a civilized state. And so,
perforce, we keep alive all human sympathies;
we are taken out of professional ruts; we are
brought into contact with each other’s virtues.
Almost more, than would be anywhere else pos-
sible, we here come to estimate each other as
men. Whatever we may fancy ought to be the
tendency of principles other than our own, we
learn at least to honor each other’s hearts and
lives. The man who, seen only in the distance,
might have been thought morose and narrow, is
found to be, in fact, —
“ One of the spirits chosen by Heaven to turn
The sunny side of things to human eyes.”
The fathers of a hundred years ago showed
great wisdom, when they started this Circle, in
20 CENTENNIAL OF THE
shunning every kind of class limitation ; in mak-
ing the only condition of eligibility to it, that
manhood which, without effort or conscious pur
pose, joins,
“ Each office of the social hour
To noble manners, as the flower
And native growth of noble mind.”
To my own thought another point of interest
in this Circle is, not exactly in its now ripened
age, but in the kind of link with which it binds
our thought and sympathy to times now well
past. Old times they are; good times they were.
Not that they were better than the new. In
some things they were not nearly so good. But
in the last hundred years we may have lost as
well as gained by the marvelous changes which
have come over us.
Take the matter of social life. The fathers
were not grim and ghastly as some seem to im-
agine. They were not long-faced and misan-
thropic. They knew the blessings of good cheer
and merry laughter; and they took good care to
have their full share of these. The very first
‘purpose of this Circle, as we have this evening
been reminded, was “to strengthen the social af-
fections.” It is quite true they had not attained
to church sociables and town assemblies and con-
certs and operas, and all the other fine and re-
fined jollities which make our own times so gay.
But they had their huskings and apple-parings
SOCIAL CIRCLE IN CONCORD. 21
and spinning-matches and quiltings; and they
could sing psalms in a way that would now be
quite astonishing. And one may doubt if our
modern merry-makings are either more pulse-
quickening or health-promoting than theirs,
-Who does not envy them the huge blazing fire
around which the family gathered when the day’s
work was done? And then, for grand occasions,
the square room, with its floor made clean and
sweet with finest sand, gave welcome to friendly
neighbors who came with wives and children for
a pleasant evening hour. If we may trust the
historians of those times, ‘ there is no affectation
of style. They tell stories, they laugh, they sing.
They are serious or gay by turns. Or the young
folks draw apart for some play, while the fathers
and the mothers are discussing some hard point
in theology in the minister’s last sermon, or per-
haps the great danger coming to sound morals
from the multiplication of turnpikes and news-
papers. It may be very true that we have
gained much of refinement and elegance and
beauty.in our social life, but we have no keener
zest for our good things than they had for theirs.
Theirs certainly did not exhaust the purse, nor
yet the power to enjoy simple, healthful pleas-
ures. Guizot is credited with once saying there
was “nothing that .France needed for its regen-
eration so much as fireside diversion.” The men
who. started this Circle had this. We of these
times are in some danger of losing it.
22 CENTENNIAL OF THE
Take the matter of intellectual life. The times
to which our Centennial carries us back were not
unappreciative of this; nor were they destitute
of it. This also appears in the ancient Consti-
tution which still binds us together. This Circle
had for its second main purpose “ to disseminate -
useful communications among its members.”
Their ways of doing this were not ours. Could
they rise from their graves, with what astonish-
ment would they look. upon the books, maga-
zines, and papers that load our tables and shelves ;
and then, in at our public libraries and reading
rooms. But it was not an unmixed ill-fortune
that they had fewer printed pages than we have.
Such as they had they read and pondered. They
learned to think. And they also learned to con-
verse. Conversation is now often reckoned as
one of the arts well-nigh lost. And why should
it not be, when we have so little use for it, and
so little to keep us in practice. Enter a modern
home some evening, and you find father, mother,
and child each with his paper or book in hand;
each silently intent upon the column or page
before him. Neither asks or much cares what
so interests the other. When bed-time comes,
with a few indifferent words or a simple good-
night, they separate and go to their slumbers.
It was not so in olden times. Then each told
what he had heard or read or thought. And
when neighbors came in to enlarge the circle
SOCIAL CIRCLE IN CONCORD. 23
about the hospitable hearth, what stories they
told, and high questions they argued. To some
one who asked Samuel Johnson how it was that
he knew everything, he replied, “ Because I talk
of everything.” Talk makes thought clear, and
fixes knowledge in the mind. There was thus a
real intellectual want for such a Circle as this a
hundred years ago; and it still serves its grand
purpose of disseminating useful communications
in the good old fashion of friendly conversation.
Then there are the changes which have trans-
pired with respect to habits and methods of in-
dustry. It is not certain that the fathers worked
harder than we do. They worked hard. They
had to, or dispense with life’s comforts, to say
nothing of luxuries and adornments. But, in
some things, they worked wiser than we do.
They did not carry toils so often and far into,
the night, nor exhausting pleasures either. Here,
again, our wise Constitution gives us a sugges-
tive hint. The meetings of this Circle were to
“begin at six and end at nine o'clock.” And so
work was early done, and sleep was early begun.
We observed just now the way pleasure and
work were often combined. Much the larger
part of the old pastimes were only ordinary
forms of industry with jollification intermixed.
The huskings and raisings and quiltings were
for profit. If a young woman went to visit a
neighbor, she did not crimp or bang her hair,
24 CENTENNIAL OF THE
and arm herself with a gorgeous fan and lovely
card-case ; she took along her spinning-wheel,
and buzzing spindles kept time with lively.
tongues. The elder women took their knit-
ting-needles and balls of yarn. If the poets
are to be trusted, even courting was carried on
in more useful ways than one must fear it some-
times now is: —
/ “ Behold,
The ruddy damsel singeth at her wheel,
While by her side the rustic lover sits.
Perchance his shrewd eye secretly doth count
The mass of skeins that, hanging on the wall,
Increaseth day by day. Perchance his thought
(For men have wiser minds than women sure)
Is calculating what a thrifty wife
The maid will make.”
It is possible that we separate our work and play
_too widely ; working too intensely when we
work, and then playing just as exclusively and
hard.
Nor is this the only interesting contrast be-
tween the old-time industry and the new. With
our wonderful division of labor few persons now
acquire skill at more than one thing. Things
once done by many hands are now done by ma-
chinery, and often in a few great factories. This
facilitates manufacture. It multiplies things of
use and beauty. But the change does not tend
to multiply large-brained and many-sided men.
Why, there was hardly any good and useful
SOCIAL CIRCLE IN CONCORD. 25
thing which the old-time Concord farmer could
not do ; and reasonably well too. Having cleared
his ground and planted his fields, he often built
no small part of his own house. His rakes,
sometimes his plows, his carts and sleds, were his
own’ manufacture. He mended, if he did. not
make; the family shoes. He could shear the
sheep, and break and hatchel the flax. The
-women, too, could not only bake the beans and
roast the pig or mutton leg and milk the cows
and churn the butter and press the cheese and
dip the candles, they could spin the flax and wool
and weave the cloth and make their own dresses
and hoods. They cut and made, also, the cloth-
ing of their husbands, sons, and brothers. Nor
was this an exceptional thing. It was common ;
and in the very best families too. We are told
that Abigail Adams, the wife of our second Presi-
dent, not only made a large part of the things of
use and beauty in her house, but that she spun
and wove and sewed her husband’s clothes. Of
Dr. Leonard Woods; who graduated at Harvard
College fourteen years after this Circle started,
and died as lately as 1854, it is said that his en-
tire graduating suit was grown on his father’s
farm, and from the raw flax and wool converted
into comely garments by his mother and sisters
in his Princeton home. No doubt these people
were awkward in manners. They would have
been dazed in a modern drawing-room. But
26 ‘CENTENNIAL OF THE
they knew how to do things that were useful.
And, withal, they developed a versatility and
courage and patience and independence of spirit
which has made the real New England what it
is; and us, too, what we are.
Perhaps I ought to allude to that article in
our Constitution which refers to one other mat-
ter of great practical interest to us. It begins,
as you remember, with the words, “ The refresh-
ment shall be moderate.” This is a further illus-
tration of the great good sense of the fathers ;
and especially of their self-control on festive oc-
casions. But it is enough for me just to allude
to it, and to leave. the remainder of the rule to
others who, just here, can comment with a bet-
ter understanding, and moralize from a larger
experience.
I must not close without at least mentioning
what seems to me to be yet another most inter-
esting feature of this Circle. It is the absence’
from it of every kind of burdensome rule or ob-
ligation. It is that, once in the year, we may
enter each other’s homes with entire informality,
as if brothers of the same household. We may
be silent or speak just according to our frame or
impulse. If I do not find myself in a talking
mood, or the topic which interests others is one
to which I am not equal, or if, as is so often the
case, my lumbering wit is slow in coming up,
and all my good stories have taken flight, no one
SOCIAL CIRCLE [N CONCORD. 27,
looks hurt; and no one seems in the least aston-
ished. It is a pleasure, not often surpassed, to
be allowed to be, now and then, only a respectful
listener in a company of wise men, such as, la-
dies, you see about you.
Tue CHAIRMAN: “It has been the fortune of four mem-
bers of the club, who, under its rules, had ceased to be
members by removing from the town, to return and be re-
elected. Fortunately none of them have yet left this world,
and therefore the question whether they are to have two
biographies in the book or not is an open one. Mr. Grout
said that nobody could attend to but one thing; but one of
our members to whom this high distinction belongs of hav-
ing been twice desired by the Circle to enter its membership
has, I believe, official jurisdiction over three distinct topics,
two of which are very much in the line of this Circle, but
the other we have not yet had occasion to invoke in its be-
half, —to wit, health, lunacy, and charity, and, as the rep-
resentative from the club of health and charity, I would
ask Mr. Sanborn to address us.”
REMARKS OF MR. F. B. SANBORN.
Mr. Cuairman, — I dare say it will appear be-
fore I get through that none of the subjects of
which you have spoken have been entirely neg-
lected. I was requested, sir, to furnish a poem
for this occasion, and I made the most elaborate
preparation for that purpose. I reflected that
this was an occasion that happened but once in
a hundred years, and that my subject was, of
course, a whole century of such’ men as Judge
Keyes has described; and I therefore made ar-
28 CENTENNIAL OF THE
rangements for a volume about the size of “ Para-
dise Lost.”
Tue CuHairMay, interrupting: “I think it would be in
order to move that it be read by its title.”
Mr. Sanzorn, continuing,— But I reflected, as
Dr. Johnson might say, that the: preparation of
such a poem should have occupied a great part
of the first century of the club, while its perusal
would probably dispose of no small part of the
coming century; and then I heard it suggested
by a friend who often favors me with excellent.
criticism, that probably an undertaking such as
I have described might be regarded by the cen-
sorious as long-winded.
I have therefore brought a few fragments of
this great work, and these will, I think, present
themselves something as the Massachusetts Cen-
tral Railroad has done of late years to persons
who have had occasion to pass in its neighbor-
hood or to traverse its whole route: you will see
a piece here and a piece there, but the connect-
ing links are not visible. I shall hope that all
who hear me will endeavor as far as possible to
supply the missing links.
Tue CHAIRMAN, interrupting: “If Rev. Mr. Grout will
pardon me for introducing the quotation, I should say, Gather
up the fragments that nothing be lost.”
Mr. SANBORN, continuing, — I have also, find-
ing the time rather short for the preparation of
SOCIAL CIRCLE IN CONCORD. 29
this poem, done what I was in the habit of doing
when I was first elected to the club and had
occasion to entertain my brethren. I laid my
neighbors under contribution, — and I must ask
those who hear me to take notice that all the sil-
ver in this production is not my own.
[The incomplete condition of Mr. Sanborn’s poem, while
not such as to prevent its being heard with attention, and
occasionally with cheerfulness, has yet led the author to
withhold it from publication until after the Massachusetts
Central Railroad shall be open for travel from Concord to
Hoosack.]
THE CHarrMaNn: “TI am afraid that Dr. Ripley would
have considered it very singular that his successor should
not have been sooner called upon to express the view of the
elub that is taken from that high vantage ground, and I
would ask Mr. Reynolds to say something to us.”
REMARKS OF THE REV. GRINDALL REYNOLDS, A. M.
I think that his successor, if you refer to me,
would have been greatly delighted, if, instead of
calling upon him late, you had not called upon
him at all. For it seems hardly worth while,
after you have listened to this prepared and ad-
mirable wit and wisdom, for me to add a few
vagrant words.
As I have considered the import of this Cen-
tennial gathering, and as I have been sitting here
and thinking it over, and have heard what has
been said of our origin and history, it has seemed
to me, that one noteworthy thing in that origin
30 CENTENNIAL OF THE
and history is the date at which the Social Circle,
began to be. It came into existence just at the
turning-point in the life of the town, and, as in
the miniature you get the representation of the
great whole, so, I presume, just as truly at the
turning-point in the national life. It stood be-
tween the old and the new. Behind it was the
memory of one hundred and fifty years of hard-
ship and struggle, in which this little settlement
with difficulty maintained itself, wrestling with
the powers of nature, and withstanding the forces
of adverse men. Before it was the vision of hope,
of great and noble progress.
You study that past, and you perceive that for
the first forty years the town was engrossed by
continuous and wearing labors simply that it
might live; that for the next hundred and ten
years it was engaged in a contest almost as con-
tinuous and scarcely less wearing with more dis-
tant forces and obstacles, which were as real as
the hardships of the forest, the poverty of fron-
tier life, or the enmity of the Indians of Massa-
chusetts Colony. I refer to the many exhausting
wars with that European power, which on this
continent stood opposed to the English settlers,
and with the savage tribes that were in alliance
with it.
As one result of such unpropitious conditions,
few organizations of any kind existed in Con-
cord, or could exist. You count them up, the
SOCIAL CIRCLE IN CONCORD. 31
church, the schools, the town meeting, and, if I
mistake not, we must add one more to Judge
Keyes’ brief list, the cavalry company, the oldest
military organization in Massachusetts, if we ex-
cept the Ancient and Honorable Artillery. Life
was too hard, too bitter a fight, to permit luxu-
ries, social or physical. So the Social Circle
came into existence just as this long period of
sacrifice and endurance, incident to frontier life,
was closing. In the nature of things it could
hardly have come into existence before.
The next fifty years were years of high expec-
tation and of great advancement. New roads
were opened; new bridges built; new enterprises
undertaken; new associations formed. There
were better schools, better society. In thought
I run over the history of the town. I can scarcely
recall anything of an organized kind, now exist-
ing, which was not created in those years be-
tween 1782 and 1832. Our banks, our insur-
ance company, our agricultural society, our ma-
sonic lodge, our manufacturing establishments,
and even the beginnings of our noble public
library, all date back to that period, to testify
what hope and fresh life came in with the close
of the Revolution, and to bear witness to the
new vigor, independence, and social power, which
were the outgrowths of the Revolution. And it
is a pleasant thing to remember that the organ-
ization, whose hundredth birthday we are now
32 CENTENNIAL OF THE
keeping, was the first-born among these various
associations. So it is not a fanciful statement
to say that this Social Circle began at a period
which marks pretty definitely the transition in
the town from the old to the new; when men
were both looking back to the somewhat sombre
memories of the past, and looking forward to the
cheerful expectations of the future. We were
leaving behind poverty, danger, difficulty, and
entering upon new and growing life. I cannot
but think that that new and growing life was to
a wonderful degree directed by the men who be-
longed to this Circle; directed in a very simple
and informal way, but in a very real and striking
way; that it has been no vain boast, that amid
the free, untrammeled, and. useful communica-
tions of its weekly meetings, many of the plans
and enterprises which have been so helpful have
been formed and matured.
As I came into this room I noticed, as each
one of you must have noticed, the portraits of
our old members which have been. hung upon
these walls. They are the portraits of the men
who, quite as much as any, have made Concord
what it is; who impressed themselves upon its
life. And, as I looked upon them, it seemed to
me not only had our Circle had great influence
in directing that opening and expanding life, of
which we see to-day the results, but that Judge
Keyes spoke a very true word, when, a few mo-
:
SOCIAL CIRCLE [N CONCORD. 33
ments ago, he recognized the great value of the
work of the Circle in its book of biographies. In
that book are preserved, if I mistake not, some-
thing more than the few bare facts and outlines
of lives which memory or scanty annals would
naturally hand down, and something more than
the curious and characteristic anecdotes which
have become traditions, even the genuine savor
of the lives themselves. The men who, in by-
gone times, were among the most striking fig-
ures in our town history, have been clothed with
a personality almost as distinct and vital as they
had in their life, by the thought and investiga-
tion which have been given to the formation
of their biographies, and by the conversation
and criticism which have corrected and enriched
those memoirs, as in our meetings they have
been read, and with frankest spirit considered.
Run back now over the history of our club.
Recall these men of what I may term its first
era, — the era of its formation. How inwrought
their lives were with the life of the town! There
was Major Hosmer, the man whose word was
the final cause which, amid a long chain of
causes, occasioned Concord fight; when, look-
ing from the hill down upon our village, and
seeing the smoke from the burning of some of
the military stores, he felt that the enemy were
destroying their homes, and that he could not a
moment longer remain passive, and vehemently
3
34 CENTENNIAL OF THE
exclaimed, “ Would you let them burn the town
down?” There was old Captain David Brown,
whose homestead was within sight of North
Bridge. He led the first Concord company to
the attack, and in tradition almost disputes with
Captain Davis, of Acton, the foremost place in
that advance; and when the battle was over, and
he had done his part, came home and recorded
the story of it in:briefest phrase, “ Had a sharp
squirmish to-day.” There was Judge Ephraim
Wood, a member of the Committee of Corre-
spondence all through the Revolution, a man
who owed very little to education or opportuni-
ties, and very much to his own high principle
and sound sense, and who remained to a great
old age a person of influence. Nor can any
enumeration of the striking men of that period
omit Dr. Ripley. For sixty-three years he stood
in his place, a true minister of the old school.
He had a vigorous will, was often stiff and un-
yielding, was always something of an autocrat,
but he was steadily on the side of the right and
not of the wrong, ever desiring higher intelli-
gence, purer manners, and nobler life. These,
and others scarcely less notable, we find on the
list of our Social Circle at its first formation.
And to them very largely was committed the
moulding of town life, as it emerged from the
strifes of war and came under the new law of
freedom,
SOCIAL CIRCLE IN CONCORD. 35
I was glad, too, to see on these walls repre-
sentatives of what may be called the second
generation of the Social Circle. And a notable
generation it was. Old Dr. Isaac Hurd, Jona-
than Fay, Samuel Hoar, Nathan Brooks, John
Keyes, Dr. Abiel Heywood, the two Mr. Shat-
tucks, Joseph Barrett, Esquire, Dr. Josiah Bart-
lett, — these, certainly, were prominent figures in
the gatherings of the Circle between 1800 and
1832. Were they not equally prominent figures
in the life and activity of the town? Rich as our
annals have been the last fifty years in good and
great names, it appears to me that we never had
a brighter galaxy of talent, a finer array of strong
and useful men, than in the very period we are
considering. What varied ability was displayed
on all kinds of fields! There were physicians of
the old school, of whom Dr. Hurd was an excel-
lent representative; good lawyers like Justice
Fay, Mr. Hoar, Mr. Brooks, Judge Heald, and
many others ; vigorous political leaders like Mr.
Keyes, whose influence was felt all over the
county ; sagacious town officers like Dr. Abiel
Heywood, who seemed himself to be the balance
wheel in our village life; shrewd business men,
and successful, from whom we may single out
the late Colonel Shattuck; enterprising farmers,
suchas ’Squire Joseph Barrett, who, with his
great farm, and: his dozen yoke of oxen, and his
own stalwart:form and striking mental charac-
36 CENTENATAL OF THE
teristics, filled perhaps as large a space as any of
his contemporaries. That generation could even
boast of an historian, in the person of Lemuel
Shattuck, himself one of the progenitors of town
annalists in this country. Nor would any list
be quite complete which left out the name of
Dr. Josiah Bartlett. He came into the Circle in
the latter half of the period, in 1820, and the
remembrance of him and of his activity, both
physical and mental, are so fresh that I need
only to name him. These men, and many more
who might be mentioned, gave to the town in
the first third of the century an honorable dis-
tinction and influence, and added dignity to the
Circle of which they were members.
At this point I pause. Those who may keep
the second Centennial of the Social Circle can
describe such of us as are now on the stage, or
those who have recently left it, if so be they find
aught worthy of preservation. But clear it is to
me that, in the future as in the past, a voluntary
association of gentlemen, deeply interested in
the good name and useful career of the town,
who meet from week to week in a free and in-
formal manner, and talk frankly over the matters
which most concern the common welfare, must,
in the hundred years to come, be, as it has been
in the hundred years which are past, one of the
simplest, best, and most vigorous forces in the
life of this ancient yet youthful town.
SOCIAL CIRCLE IN CONCORD. 37
Tue Cuarrman: “ Will Judge Brooks give us his view
of the club, inherited or personal ?”
Jupce Brooks: “I think, at this late hour, Mr. Chair-
man, you must excuse me.”
THE CHAIRMAN: “Well, I am sorry to do so. We are
disappointed also in Mr. Fay Barrett’s inability, from illness,
to make the contribution that he had hoped. We have one
ex-member present with us that we are very happy to meet
and welcome to-night (Mr. Wheildon), and I have under-
stood he would ask a friend to read a few words for him.”
Mr. WHEILDON: “Being, as I supposed I should be, Mr.
Chairman, the only ex-member of the Social Circle present
to-night, I took my pencil this afternoon, and threw together
a few light words, which I have requested my friend, Mr.
Smith, to read to the Circle.”
THe CHAIRMAN: ‘Will Mr. Smith be so kind as to read
the ‘few light words which Mr. Wheildon has thrown to-
gether?’”
Mr. H. F. Sir then read the following : —
Mr. CuairMan, — Finding myself, as I sup-
posed might be the case, the only ex-member of
the Social Circle present, I have thought, per-
haps, that I might be allowed a few light words
on the occasion.
According to my remembrance, I was a mem-
ber of the Social Circle about the middle of the
present century, and it is now more than a quar-
ter of a century since I have attended its meet-
ings. Still my memory is very fresh as regards
its members at that time, and the recollection of
them, especially those of my neighbors, has now
been brought very vividly and very pleasantly to
my mind. I shall never forget them personally,
38 CENTENNIAL OF THE
nor my association with the Circle even for a few
years,
There was, no doubt, at the time it was formed,
much need of such a society, when the popula-
tion of the town was sparse, and neighbors out-
side of the village some distance from each other,
without anything which might be called social
intercourse among them. It seems natural, there-
fore, that interest in the Circle, and its gratifica-
tions, should keep it alive and in good spirits,
according to the Constitution, to this time, when
it has reached the good old age of one hundred
years. During all this time, it may be truly said,
it has done much to make the prominent men of
the town acquainted with each other, and at the
same time has unquestionably promoted, in many
important matters, the general interest of the
town. It will probably be continued, with re-
newed vitality, by the successive generations
which are to carry on the business of this world
for coming centuries.
But, it is to be hoped, as the rule excluding
ladies from the Circle has been broken, and the
precedent established of admitting the wives or
representatives of members, once in a hundred
years, that after a reasonable experience of that
practice, a better rule may be adopted; that of
admitting them as often as once each year, per-
haps at the last meeting in March, as at this
time: a hundred years is altogether too long.a
SOCIAL CIRCLE IN CONCORD. 39
time for any lady to wait, living in expectation of
so great a human felicity.
Having said thus much in violation of a law
which Iam just now bound to observe, I must
conclude with my best wishes for the society
and its continued usefulness, and kind regards to
the ladies whose connection with it heretofore,
for a hundred years, has only been to provide
suppers for its members.
THE CuarRMAN: “ We have a pleasant letter from an ex-
member, Dr. Jarvis, somewhat too long to read in the time
that we have left, in which he expresses many good wishes
and some reminiscences, and says that his interest in the
club passes through two generations ; that his father was a
member for forty years, and that he was the secretary for
twenty-seven years himself of a similar club in Dorchester,
Mass., where he now resides.
“Gentlemen of the Circle, — Mr. Sanborn, in one of his
verses, which I wish I could repeat with accuracy, said that
our hundred years beginning with somebody (perhaps he
will supply the missing name) ended with Emerson, and
one of our youngest members, Dr. Emerson, we will ask to
close the century to-night.”
REMARKS OF DR. E. W. EMERSON.
Mr. CuarirmMan, — Since the committee have
done me the compliment to ask me to speak or
to contribute something for the evening’s enter-
tainment, not having the gift of ready speech, I
have ventured to put in writing what, to the as-
tonishment of my former schoolmaster, Mr. San-
born, might be called a mathematical paper.
40 CENTENNIAL OF THE
Irreverent persons speak of physicians who
use the stronger drugs as if their rule of practice
were, “ When in doubt, narcotize your patient.”
If you run this risk at my hands, you must
charge it to your Committee of Arrangements.
The primary effect of narcotics is usually stimu-
lating ; so watch lest you feel exhilarated if you
would avoid subsequent danger.
While we wish for many happy returns of this
hundredth birthday of the club (at which recur-
ring feasts circumstances quite beyond our own
control will prevent most of us from being pres-
ent), we naturally turn back to the legends of its
first birthday.
Some facts and seemingly some fictions with
regard to its formation have been unearthed by
successive excavating parties. I have been try-
ing to learn more broadly how all circles, hence
this one, originate.
From the old Alexandrian geometer, Euclid,
who probably gathered much that he gives us
from the wisdom of remoter antiquity, we learn
that if a radius be revolved round a given point
a circle will be generated. The founders of ours,
then, clearly had to choose their central point
and then hunt up their radius. Every one of
them had in each fore-arm a bone of that name,
but we must believe that the rapid whirling of
the arms of the members would have rather re-
sulted in a prize-ring than in a loving and dur-
able Circle like our own.
SOCIAL' CIRCLE IN CONCORD. 4I
What then is a geometer’s Radius? It is a
Latin word ; its English is Ray. What rays, be-
yond those of the sun, moon, and stars, were to
be had in 1782?
Perhaps a clear ray of high hope and faith
shone through the dark-lowering cloud of war.
With this radiating beam and the flag-staff on
the hill over the town for a centre they surely
had good material to work out their circle with-
Perhaps they chose their members from each
spot this bright ray lighted, as it swept round
Concord, from the farms in the forest clearings,
the shops by the mill pond, the squire’s and doc-
tor’s offices, the Old Manse by the river. Just.
how these strong men swung this radius round
the central point we do not know. All heroic
foundations are soon clothed with mists. That
they did something of the sort we may believe,
as we learn that the club originated in the Com-
mittee of Safety.
What else can we learn of circles in general ?
Weare told that they are plane figures. Such
a one would be excellently adapted then to this
part of Middlesex: but we hope that all the
members are not bound to be plain figures.
Worcester, in his dictionary, gives as the eighth
definition of czvcle, “a class of people, a com-
pany, a society,” and, to illustrate the correct use
of the word in this sense, quotes this phrase from
Addison, “a circle of beauties.”
42 CENTENNIAL OF THE
Worcester does not allude to this club by
name, though he mentions many remarkable
kinds of circle, as, for instance, the “ Circle of II-
lumination.” This, alas! is not ours, for he de-
fines it as “an zmaginary circle which separates
the illuminated from the dark hemisphere of the
earth,” — presumably between us and China at
this time. He also tells of two very extraordi-
nary varieties, namely, “circles of perpetual ap-
parition,” and those of “ perpetual occultation,”
and says they are so called because the stars
included within the former never set, and within
the latter never rise. Does he mean from table?
This study has a great charm. Let us remem-
ber, by the way, that the circle in the Middle
Ages was a mighty spell in the hands of the en-
chanter, — used to keep the devil ow, but also
hard for him to get out of, if he once got in.
Let us beware that the indiscriminate revival of
Medizvalism now fashionable lead us not into
experiments tending towards raising him. A
leading novelist says that a certain personage
under ground was mightily amused when he
heard a man overhead cry, “Courage / mon amt ;
le diable est mort /”
But, woe is me! it stands recorded in the club
book that in its first beginnings the bond was
well-nigh snapped asunder forever by Dr. Eze-
kiel Brown, his garrulity; and, though the pro-
fession have to thank the Rev. Mr. Reynolds for
SOCIAL CIRCLE IN CONCORD. 43
a sturdy defense of that physician’s character,
with charity at once honorable to and character-
istic of his biographer, let Dr. Brown’s ill-repute
and admission in writing that the “Social So-
ciety flourished much while he was closely con-
fined prisoner,” be a warning to the present med-
ical members.
To conclude then; in ancient times the circle
is said to have symbolized completeness and eter-
nity: happy omen for the club!
Tue CuarrmMan: ‘I will explain for the benefit of the
ladies present (the members need no such information, and
the ladies, perhaps, may be aware that the gentlemen are
evasive creatures), that the rule of the club confining the en-
tertainment to cider, flip, grog, and toddy, has been some-
what left out of practice, I may say, in recent times, by this
device ; that the Constitution of the club provides that its
sessions shall continue from six to nine o’clock, and nothing
but cider, flip, grog, or toddy is ever introduced into the
meetings of the club between six and nine. When the hour
of nine arrives, as the session of the club according to the
Constitution is at an end, any little refreshments which may
be met by the members as they rise to depart are welcome,
and not unconstitutional. And I believe that, as we have
concluded our Centennial ceremonies with that exception,
some such fortune may await all the company present on this
occasion. The meeting of the Social Circle is ended.”
The Circle and their guests then proceeded to
the dining-room and spent a pleasant hour at
the supper table, loaded with a bounteous re-
past.
44 CENTENNIAL OF THE
LETTER OF DR. EDWARD JARVIS.
DorcuHeEsTER, Mass., March 16, 1882.
Henry J. Hosmer, Esq., Chairman of the Committee of the
Social Circle, Concord, Mass.
My pear Sir, — Your courteous invitation to attend the
Centennial Anniversary of your association on Tuesday, the
21st instant, reached me this morning.
I am very grateful to the gentlemen of the club for this
pleasant notice, and I would accept in person if it were pos-
sible for me to do so. But necessity compels me to remain
at home, yet my heart and my sympathy will be with you on
that occasion.
I have very pleasant memories of the meetings of that
society, running back two generations. My father was a
member at my earliest recollection. When I was living in
Louisville, Kentucky, he wrote me, “I have resigned my
place in the club, and I have done it with a clear conscience,
for I have attended its meetings for forty years.” My
brother Francis was a member, and I was also a member
from 1832 to 1837, during my last residence in Concord.
We all enjoyed the meetings, mentally and socially, and they
were well attended. The club had great influence in the
public affairs of the town. Almost every question or project
relating to town business was first started at some of the
meetings and discussed in all its bearings, and if approved,
and came up in town meeting, there, as it had been accepted
by so large a portion of the leading minds of the town, its
adoption was a foregone conclusion.
Our entertainments were very simple: we had apples, —
russets almost always, few had any other, — wine, and cider.
. . « When I went to Louisville I found a similar club, who
at once invited me to join them. They aimed at more lit-
erary and intellectual work, and had more elaborate and lux-
urious suppers. When I came here in 1843, I felt the want
é
SOCIAL CIRCLE IN CONCORD. 45
of such association, and proposed to form one. This was
accepted. It was limited to twelve members, because it was
proposed to have a regular supper at the beginning of the
evening, to take the place of the home meal. After this a
discussion follows upon some topic previously agreed upon.
Our meetings are often full ; it is rare that any association
is attended by so large a proportion of its members. I was
secretary for twenty-seven years. At the end of thirty years
we had a meeting at which Deacon Clapp, our historian, read
a history of the club, which was afterwards printed. I trust
you in Concord will do the same. The history of the hun-
dred years will be a very interesting book. Again thanking
you and your associates for their pleasant remembrance and
invitation, and hoping your club will have another century
of prosperity,
I am, very respectfully yours,
Epwarp Jarvis.
APPENDIX.
CONSTITUTION.
To strengthen the social affections, and disseminate use-
ful communications among its members, we, whose names
are hereunto subjoined, do hereby agree to form ourselves
into a society by the name of THE SocraL CircLe In Con-
CORD, and to adopt the following Rules and Regulations,
namely : —
1. The number of the Society shall not exceed twenty-
five.
2. Persons desirous of admission into the Society shall
make application to the secretary, and he shall propose the
first applicant on the same evening, or at the next meeting
of the Society after a vacancy is determined, and the person
so proposed for admission shall be balloted for at the first
future meeting, when not less than thirteen members are
present.
3. No person shall be admitted as a member against
whose admission two ballots appear.
4. The Society shall meet on Tuesday evenings from the
first of October to the last of March, inclusively, at such
place as the majority of the Society shall determine, the
meetings to begin at six and end at nine o’clock Pp. m.
5- To promote the design of this institution each member,
when speaking, shall address himself to the chairman of the
Society.
6. The same rule shall be observed in determining vacan-
cies as in the admission of members, both as it respects the
number of members present, and the number voting in the
affirmative, except in cases of death.
4
50 APPENDIX.
4. The refreshment for the Society shall be moderate,
consisting of only cyder, grogg, flip, or toddy, or either of
them, as the members may desire.
8. The expense of the refreshment shall be equally as-
sessed on the members, to be paid at such times and in
such manner as the Society may determine.
g. There shall be a secretary chosen the first Tuesday
evening in January annually, whose duty shall be to record
the names and proceedings of the Society from time to time
in a book deposited with him for that purpose.
10. No alteration shall be made in the foregoing rules
and regulations, unless as many members are present, and
consent thereto, as are required for the admission of mem-
bers.
AMENDMENTS.
January 4, 1831. Voted, that the Society will in future
dispense with the use of ardent spirits as refreshment at
their meetings.
November 23, 1869. Voted, that the list of applicants
for admission heretofore kept by the secretary be abolished,
and that in the balloting for candidates, any citizen of the
town may be voted for, a majority of those present and vot-
ing to be necessary to a selection of a candidate.
LIST OF MEMBERS.
THE list of members previous to 1795 was prepared and
inserted in the book of records by Dr. Joseph Hunt, the
secretary, in 1804, and has since been revised by a later
secretary, after a more careful examination of the 1ecord
itself. From this list it appears probable that not more
than twenty members composed the Circle before 1798,
when it was filled up to the limit of twenty-five. ‘The date
of admission to and leaving the Circle is given so far as can
be ascertained. Those not living are marked *. Those liv-
ing, not now members, ft. Those whose sons were mem-
bers, f. Those reélected, §.
Joined. Members. Cause and Date of Withdrawal.
1782. *HumpHrey Barrett . . . Resigned . 1822
1782. *{SamueL BarTLeTT . . . ~. Moved away 1795
1782. *Davip Brown. . . . . . Died. . . 1802
1782, *EzexieL Brown . . . . . Left . . . 1785
1782. JosepH BROWN .... . — —
1782. *{REUBEN BRuwN . . . . . Died. . . 1832
1782. *EmersON CocGSwELL. . . . Died. . . 1808
1782. *JoNATHAN Fay. . . . . . Died. . . 1811
1782. *tJonas Heywoop . . . . . Died. . . 1808
1782. *Jos—epH HosmMeR . . . . . Resigned . 1802
1782. *tTHomMas HupparD . . . . Resigned . 1823
1782. “*JosepH Hunt. . .. . . Died. . . 1812
1782. ‘*Duncan INGRAHAM . . . . Moved away 1795
1782. *ELNATHAN Jones. . . . . Died... 1793
1782, *EpHRaim Jones . . . . . Moved away 1805
1782. *SAMUEL Jones. . . . . . Died. . . 1812
1782. *Jonas Leg. . . -. . . . Died. . . 1819
1782, *PeTER WHEELER. . . . . Died. . 1813
1782. *JoHN Wuite . . . . . . Resigned . 1827
1782. *Epuraim.Woop . . . . . Resigned . 1802
52
1785.
1786.
1786.
1789.
1795:
1795+
1798.
1798.
1798.
1798.
1798.
1801.
1802.
1802.
1802.
1804.
1804.
1804.
1805.
1805.
1805.
1808.
1808.
1809.
1809.
1812.
1812.
1813.
1813.
1814.
1815.
1815.
1816.
1818.
1819.
1819.
APPENDIX.
*tEzra RIPLEY
*JOHN VOSE .
*JoHN RICHARDSON
*tIsaac Hurp
*REUBEN HuNT.
*ABEL BARRETT.
*WILLIAM PARKMAN
*STEPHEN Woop
*{FRANCIS JARVIS
*JaMes TEMPLE.
*WILLIAM JONES
*TILLY MERRICK
*THomas HEALD
*EPHRAIM Wiese -
*OLIVER CROMWELL WYMAN
*JoHN LEIGHTON ‘TUTTLE
*CHARLES HAMMOND .
*REUBEN BRYANT .
*JoHN LyNDE PRESCOTT.
*JONATHAN WHEELOCK
*NaTHAN Woop
*{JosePH BARRETT .
*JostaH Davis :
*JONATHAN HUBBARD Davis
*Isaac Hurp, Jr. .
*NATHANIEL MONROE
*MosEs PRICHARD .
*Witt1AM Herywoop .
*tNATHAN BARRETT.
*Jonas HrEywoop .
*DANIEL SHATTUCK
*BENJAMIN Dixon BARTLETT .
*JAMES HAMILTON .
*{WILLIAM MONROE
*SAMUEL BUTTRICK
*JoHn ADAMS
. Honorary . 1787
. Resigned . 1832
. Moved away 1804
. Resigned . 1831
. Died . . 1816
. Died . . 1803
. Resigned . 1825
. Died . . 1820
. Resigned . 1837
. Moved away 1801
. Moved away 1802
. Resigned
. Moved away 1813
. Resigned
. Moved away 1804
. Died .
. Moved away 1806
. Moved away 1805
. Moved away 1819
. Moved away 1821
. 1821
. 1824
- 1813
. Died . . 1810
. Died . . 1849
. Moved away 1839
. Died. . 1815
. Died . . 1828
. Moved away 1817
. Resigned . 1864
. Resigned. 1828
. Died . . 1829
. Resigned. 1823
. Died . . 1867
Moved away 1818
. Moved away 1819
. Resigned
. Died .
. Moved away 1831
. 1851
. 1820
1819.
1819.
182T,
1821.
1821.
1822.
1822.
1823.
1823.
1824.
1825.
1827.
1828.
1828.
1829.
1831.
1831.
1832.
1832.
1832.
1832.
1832.
1832.
1836,
1837.
1839.
1839.
1839.
1839.
1841.
1843.
1844.
1846.
1846.
1847.
1847.
LIST OF MEMBERS.
*{Joun KeEveEs
*ReEUBEN Brown, Jr..
*JostaH BARTLETT .
*Joun Stacy
*Cyrus HuBBARD .
*{ELiaH Woop .
*INATHAN BROOKS .
*SAMUEL Burr .
*{Cyrus HosMER
*LEMUEL SHATTUCK
*tApieEL HEywoop .
*NEHEMIAH BALL .
*EPHRAIM MERRIAM
*DuDLEY SMITH
*WILLIAM WHITING
*NATHAN BARRETT
*tPuingas How.
*Hersey BRADFORD Gadi :
*ABEL MOORE
*Cyrus Stow
*Cyrus WARREN
fEpwarp JARVIS
*JoHN MILTON CHENEY .
{WILLIAM SHEPHERD. . ».
*ALVAN PRATT .
*FRANCIS JARVIS —
*Davip LorINnG .
tRALPH WaLpDO Honstin
*ALBERT Hopart NELSON .
*GEORGE MINOTT BARRETT.
REUBEN NATHANIEL RICE.
“*BARZILLAI FROST .
Joun SHEPARD KeEvEs .
*SAMUEL RIPLEY
LoRENzO EATON .
. Died.
. Moved away 1848
a
. Died . . 1844
. Resigned . 1848
. Died . . 1878
. Resigned . 1848
. Resigned . 1851
. Died .. . 1861
. Died . . 1863
. Died . . 1832
. Moved away 1832
. Moved away 1832
. Died . . 1839
. Died . . 1860
. Died . . 1843
. Moved away 1832
. Died . . 1862
. Died . . 1868
. Died. . 1852
Died . . 1836
. Died. . 1848
; Besieced . 1871
. Died . . 1866
. Moved away 1837
. Died . . 1869
. Moved away 1839
. Resigned . 1846
. Resigned . 1847
- Moved away 1857
. Moved away 1841
EBENEZER Rockwoop Hoar .
. Resigned
. Moved away 1846
. Moved away 1857
. 1866
. 1847
54
1848.
1848.
1848.
1848.
1849.
1851.
1851.
1851.
1852.
1853.
1854.
1856.
1856.
1857.
1857.
1857.
1860.
1860.
1861.
1862.
1864.
1864.
1866.
1866.
1867.
1868.
1868.
1869.
1870.
1871.
1873.
1873.
1874.
1875.
1875.
1878.
APPENDIX.
*tSamMuEL Hoar. . . . Died. . . 1856
*FRANCIS RICHARD Gasieas . Died. . . 1853
+WitLiaM WILDER WHIELDON . Resigned. 1856
*Simon Brown. . . . . ~« Died. . . 1873
{Tristram Barnarp Mackey. Resigned . 1851
§LorENzo EaTon . oe %
JonaTHAN Fay Barretr . . Resigned . 1860
*Francis Monroe. . . . . Resigned . 1854
EvijanH Woop, JR.
*SAMUEL GREENE WHEELER . Moved away 1856
EPHRAIM WALES BULL .
*ApoLtpuHus Bates. . . . . Died. . . 1874
SAMUEL STAPLES .
NaTHAN BROOKS STow
fBarzittar Nicxerson Hupson Moved away 1875
FRANKLIN BENJAMIN SANBORN Moved away 1868
GRINDALL REYNOLDS
RicHARD BARRETT ~ 8
*ADDISON Grant Fay . . . Died. . . 1873
Jutius MIcHAEL SMITH
GrEorRGE MERRICK BROOKS .
GEORGE Hrywoop :
*JOHN FREDERICK SKINNER . Died. . . 1870
Epwarp CARVER DAMON .
Henry FRANGIS SMITH .
GEORGE KeryES
Henry JosEPH Hossenn
GrEorGE Puingeas How.
§REUBEN NATHANIEL RICE.
tEDwarp THomas HORNBLOWER Moved away 1874
§JonaTHAN Fay BARRETT .
§FRANKLIN BENJAMIN SANBORN.
Henry Martin Grout
Epwarp WaLpo EMERSON
Henry JoEL WaLcorr .
James Barretr Woop .
REPORT OF COMMITTEE.
i
THE committee chosen the first of January last (1828) to
collect facts relating to the first formation and history of the
Social Circle, and to consider the propriety of altering the
Constitution, beg leave respectfully to make the following
report :—
On examination of the records of the Circle, it appears
that there is none of its proceedings recorded previous to
1795- A list of the names of those who were supposed to
have been members previous to that date was collected
about 1804, and transcribed into our records by the present
secretary (J. Hunt). In conversation with the oldest mem-
bers now living, we have uniformly been informed that the
Circle was organized a long time before 1795 ; that after it
had been in existence several years, was broken up by Dr.
Ezekiel Brown ; that it was reorganized and continued har-
moniously several years, till some of the members introduced
the practice of giving suppers when they met at their houses ;
that this gave offense and again broke it up, and that it was
soon after again reorganized by adopting the Constitution
under which it has since been continued.
After becoming acquainted with these facts, your commit-
tee endeavored to ascertain the dates of the first and two
subsequent organizations, and also the dates of the suspen-
sions. In doing this we obtained some history of Dr. Brown,
the notorious disturber of the first society. In a postscript
of a letter dated Clinton (Me.), October 28, 1822, addressed
to Thaddeus Blood, Esq., of this town, Dr. Brown observed :
‘There was a society in Concord called the Social Society,
which flourished very much while I was close confined a
prisoner. I wish to be informed whether that society is still
kept up ; if so, whether they increase in numbers or not. I
should be glad to know if there be such a man living as
5 6 APPENDIX.
Frederick William Gyer, of the Kingdom of Great Britain,
son-in-law to Duncan Ingraham, of Concord, who was the
first founder of mischief in Concord.” Mr. Blood states that
several years before the Revolution, Dr. Brown kept store
where Deacon Jarvis’s bakehouse now stands. About 1770
he bought the house now owned by Mr. Tolman, where he
‘removed his store. In 1774 he failed, was taken for debt
by Captain Ingraham, agent for Mr. Geyer, then an eminent
merchant in Boston, and imprisoned in~ Boston, where he
remained till the British troops evacuated the town, when he
was liberated. During his confinement he acquired some
little knowledge of physic and surgery. Mr. Reuben Brown
was his bondsman. In 1777 he enlisted into the army as a
surgeon, and continued in the Continental service till about
1780, when he returned. When peace took place in 1783, Mr.
Geyer, who had resided in England during the war (being un-
friendly to the American interests), returned, and again com-
menced business in Boston. His claim on Dr. Brown was
again demanded, and, on his refusal to pay in anything but
government securities, was again imprisoned by Captain In-
graham. We find, on examination of the jail records, now
in the hands of Captain Abel Moore, that this commitment
took place at the old jail in this town, May 30, 1787, ‘for a
debt on execution from the Supreme Judicial Court.” From
another record in the Register it appears that he was again
committed May 8, 1788, by virtue of an advertisement for
breaking jail, when committed for debt, and not finding se-
curities for his appearance. He was removed to Cambridge,
July 7, 1788, and discharged June 27, 1789, by order of the
creditor. Mr. Geyer became possessor of the Tolman house
he formerly owned, and Dr. Brown soon after went to Maine.?
1 The report in relation to Dr. Brown is very different from the ac-
count in Mr. Reynolds’s complete and carefully written memoir. It is to
be noted that the postscript to the letter is merely an incidental remark,
and the statement made therein “that it flourished very much while I
was close confined a. prisoner” is one of which he could have no per-
REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 57
- From these facts there is no doubt the Circle flourished very
much in 1787 and 1788, the time of imprisonment to which
Dr. Brown probably alludes. Mr. Vose states that he joined
the Circle in 1786, about the time of its reorganization, and
that Dr. Brown never belonged to it afterwards. This taken
in connection with the foregoing facts make it certain that
the first society to which he belonged existed prior to 1786.
Mr. Reuben Brown, the only member of the first society
now living, Mr. John Vose, and others, state that there was
a society, similar to the present, formed soon after the com-
mencement of the Revolutionary War.! This is in accord-
sonal knowledge, as his close confinement was in 1788 and 1789, at Cam-
bridge jail, for when confined in Concord in 1787 he probably had the
“liberty of the yard,” as the advertisement ‘for breaking jail and not
finding securities for his appearance’ would imply. This liberty would
then have enabled him to live at home and be about the centre of the
village. He was not a member after 1786, according to Mr. Vose, and
how long he was a member of the Circle is a question. The report says
he joined about 1780, but the memoir makes him a surgeon in the army
that year, and there is no evidence but this report that he returned to
Concord till the war ended in 1781 or 1782. Even if back in 1781, he
might not have been chosen for some time, and the “‘ refusal of the other
members to attend,” that ‘after a few years” broke up the society, be-
cause he desired ‘‘to do all the talking himself,” did not leave but a very
short interval between the first and second organizations.
1 Substitute the “close” for the ‘‘commencement” of the Revolu-
tion, as the date of the beginning of the Circle, and the statements of
Deacon Vose and Lieutenant Brown would agree with the traditions, the
probabilities, and the curious relic of a record on the cover of the record
book printed on red leather in gilt letters of old-fashioned type.
SOCIAL CIRCLE,
CONCORD,
1782.
It will be noticed that Mr. Vose was not a member before 1786, and how
long before that date Lieutenant Brown joined does not appear. Both
were talking of what happened fifty years previous, when their memories
of dates and occurrences that they were not personally connected with
might easily vary a few years from the truth.
58 APPENDIX.
ance with various other facts which have come to our
knowledge.’
From all the evidence your committee have been able to
collect, they have been enabled to fix with considerable cer-
tainty the date of the first organization of the Social Circle,
then called the Social Society, about the year 1777.” It
might have been somewhat earlier, but there is no positive
evidence of it.
Soon after the commencement of the Revolutionary War,
there came into this town to live, from Boston, Samuel Bart-
lett, Captain Joseph Brown, and Lieutenant Emerson Cogs-
well, all of whom were men of respectability, intelligence,
and social habits. They, in connection with Jonas Hey-
1 The “other facts” that the report refers to without mentioning, un-
less it be those contained in the next paragraph, may be like the “ facts”’
about Dr. Brown, mere loose statements, and throw no light on the date,
but might, if stated in full, have been more to the purpose.
2 For this date there seems to be no authority given by the committee,
and the reasoning which led to it is apparent in the following portion of
the report. :
8 The coming to Concord of Samuel Bartlett, Emerson Cogswell, and
Captain Joseph Brown soon after the commencement of the Revolution,
seems to be the basis of the committee for fixing that date as the begin-
ning of the Social Circle. It is worth considering if even these three
men would have been such an addition to a town containing, as Concord
did, so many much more eminent men, as to lead to’ the formation of
such an organization. The first year of the war brought Harvard College
bodily to Concord, president, professors, and students, and it may be
wondered that the committee did not take this fact for the origin of the
Circle. But while the war was going on, taxing all men’s thoughts,
money, and services, committees of safety and correspondence, to none
of which neither of the three named belonged, were meeting weekly, and
out of these meetings Shattuck, in his history and uniform tradition, says
the Circle originated. ‘These meetings were kept up till the war ended
by the surrender of Cornwallis in 1781.
Then as to these three men whose coming makes the Social Society
or Circle start into existence, according to the report. Samuel Bartlett
was but twenty-four years old when he came in 1776, began keeping a
small store, in which he did not succeed, and though ten years later he
had become more known and much considered by his neighbors, was
REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 59
wood, Esq., Judge Wood, Captain David Brown, and other
citizens, were some of the first who composed the society.
Others were admitted at different times. About 1780 Dr.
Brown joined, but from his excessive desire to do all the
talking himself, the members became dissatisfied, and after
afew years, by their neglecting to attend, the society was
broken up. This took place about 1784 or 1785.
In relation to its second reorganization, your committee
have consulted the Rev. Dr. Ripley, who was one of its first
members, and have received from him in writing the follow-
ing account. It was then called the Social Club, and its ob-
jects seemed to have been somewhat more various than under
its present organization.
“T believe,” says Dr. Ripley, “it commenced as early as
1785 or 1786. It originated with Samuel Bartlett, Esq., late
rather young in 1777 to have got up a social institution. Lieutenant
Emerson Cogswell, whose age cannot be ascertained, and who had one
child born before his marriage, according to his grandson’s memoir,
was here keeping the old Wright Tavern in 1777, had been chosen
second lieutenant of a company of militia that served at Cambridge in
1776, and to the same rank in another company, in 1778, that served in
Rhode Island. He, with these absences and occupations, would seem
less likely than Samuel Bartlett for a founder of this society. Captain
Joseph Brown is a myth that even Mr. Reynolds’s keen search can find
no trace of in history, town record, or tradition, unless he is the “one
Brown,” for whom Lieutenant Cogswell was bound as surety, who fled
to Western Virginia, and caused Cogswell’s failure, and useless pursuit
for the money. Where he lived, what property he owned, what he was
captain of, cannot be found out. The probability or possibility of these
three founding the Social Circle of Judge Wood, Sheriff Hosmer, Squire
Heywood, and others, is too remote to be established by evidence the
report does not even state.
1 As to the name, Dr. Brown calls it the “ Social Society ” in his post-
script, written thirty years subsequent to his membership, and is the only
authority for that name given in the report, and he is speaking of the
second organization, to which the committee give the name of “ Social
Club.” Dr. Ripley says of that, ‘the club as it was still called,” as it
generally is now in conversation, and would not to a careful reader be
thought to imply that its real name was changed.
60 APPENDIX.
Register of Deeds in this county, and the minister of Con-
cord; the former gentleman first proposed the subject for
consideration to the latter. At the first meeting, when the
plan was farther examined and matured, there were present,
Messrs. E, Ripley, Samuel Bartlett, and Emerson Cogswell.
Other citizens were soon informed of the plan and invited
to join. At the second meeting, it is believed, besides the
persons above named, Deacon John White, Dr. Joseph Hunt,
Jonathan Fay, Esq., Dr. Isaac Hurd,? Mr. Reuben Brown,
and Mr. John Vose, were present. Additions to the number
were soon made, but in what order I cannot now ascertain.
After the lapse of a few years, the club, as it was still called,
became regular and apparently useful. The minister was
excused from regular attendance at the meetings, and re-
ceived a general invitation to meet with them whenever it
should suit his convenience and choice, and was considered
an honorary member. The objects of the club were substan-
tially as follows, namely: To provide a substitute for the
supposed needfulness of collecting at taverns to learn the
news of the day, and thereby to prevent the practice of tavern
haunting, and the temptation to needless expense and inju-
rious drinking; to cherish social affections and draw closer
the bonds of friendship among neighbors and fellow-citizens ;
to elevate the tone and improve the character of social inter-
course ; to acquire, in an easy and respectable manner, the
knowledge of the news and interesting events of a civil, po-
litical, and religious nature, and of business in general, by
mutually communicating the information possessed by each
individual member ; to converse freely on subjects deemed
interesting, and specially such as were likely and expected
to come before the town, that by such previous examination
1 Dr. Hurd did not live in Concord till 1789.
2 As to the objects. The doctor must not be understood as defining
its plan and purpose (especially in having a tavern keeper form a club
to break up “ tavern haunting” and “needless expense,” or “ indirectly
promoting temperance” by taking drinks), but rather repeating his ser-
mons on social duties and obligations.
REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 61
of the subject their minds might be ripened and better pre-
pared for a more public discussion and enlightened decision ;
and to increase, by a friendly and mutual exchange of senti-
ments, the general stock of knowledge, virtue, harmony, and
happiness.
“The rules of the club were few and simple. I do not
recollect the present Constitution ; it appears to be in the
handwriting of Dr. Hunt ; neither do I recollect that a sec-
retary was chosen. The chairman, or moderator, was the
man at whose house we met. The promotion of temperance
being indirectly an object in view, it was agreed that we
would be frugal, and have no refreshment except a little
drink, once handed round, of such kind as should be pre-
ferred, Deviations from the original design and this simple
method proved injurious, and broke up the club, as I was
informed. How long this interruption lasted I cannot say,
and I had no hand in its resuscitation ; but.I am glad it has
been restored to life and operation, and am still of opinion
that the Circle, well regulated and attended by respectable
gentlemen of different professions and occupations, may be
continued both pleasant and useful.”
The members who gave expensive refreshments, as inti-
mated in the above statement of Dr. Ripley, were Captain
Ingraham and Captain Elnathan Jones. They did not pro-
vide suppers but a few evenings. The innovation was offen-
sive to the club generally, and was the cause of its being
broken up, which took place about 1792 or 1793.1. During
this period of its existence there was no regular plan in rela-
tion to the place of meeting ; at every meeting it was agreed
where it should meet next. Whether any records were kept
1 As the club was existing in 1792, “who meet once a week at each
other’s houses,” according to William Jones’s account of Concord,
printed in the first volume of the Massachusetts Historical Collections,
the breaking up “by giving suppers a few evenings” could not have hap-
pened till the winter of 1792-93 or 1793-94, and as the present Consti-
tution bears date of 1794 this interruption must have been very short,
perhaps not exceeding a single season.
62 APPENDIX.
we have been unable to ascertain. Mr. Vose is of opinion
that none were kept previous to 1795. One of your com-
mittee addressed a letter to the Misses Bartlett, of Cam-
bridge, daughters of the late Samuel Bartlett, Esq., with a
view of ascertaining whether their father left any papers re-
lating to the club, but they have as yet been unable to find
any.
In 1795 it was organized in its present form, under the
name of the Social Circle, and for about six years afterwards
met at Mr. Vose’s constantly, who provided for their only
refreshment “flip and toddy,” according to the Constitution,
and received for his compensation 5s. 3¢. each evening. No
fruit or other refreshments were used. About 1802 the Cir-
cle began to meet at the members’ houses in rotation, and it
still continues the practice.*
It will be apparent from the foregoing statements that the
reason of the seventh article of our Constitution was to
guard against any difficulty which might arise from the intro-
duction of immoderate or expensive refreshments. Your
committee are of opinion that no alteration be made in our
Constitution, but would recommend that all our refresh-
ments should be moderate. They would, however, recom-
mend that the teachers of our grammar school and academy
for the time being be ex offcit’s honorary members.
All of which is respectfully submitted.
LEMUEL SHATTUCK,
FRANCIS JARVIS,
ConcorD, February 26, 1828.
; Committee.
1 The conclusion that a careful consideration of the matter inevitably
reaches is that the Circle orignated in the Committee of Safety after the
reason for their meetings had ceased in 1782; that by that date the
three “so-called founders” had become known and recognized in the
town sufficiently to have been chosen members of the Circle; that the
date on the cover of the record book is the true one, and was saved from
some older book of records that were destroyed or never kept, and was
transferred to this book as its appropriate place ; that its real name has
always been the same as now, Social Circle ; and that this scrap of old
gilt letter is more to be relied on for name and date than the “ say so’s ””
of the committee’s report. — Ep.
MEMOIRS.
MEMOIR OF HUMPHREY BARRETT.
BY NATHAN BROOKS,
HuMPHREY BarRETT was born in Concord, May 23, A. D.
1752. Hewas a descendant from Humphrey Barrett, who
came from England about the year 1639, aged about thirty-
one years, and settled upon the farm now owned and occu-
pied by Abel B. Heywood. In 1640 he built a dwelling-
house upon the farm, nearly opposite the present dwelling.
Some of the boards of the first house compose part of the
house now standing on the farm, He died November 7,
1662, leaving seven children. The eldest, Thomas, was
drowned in Concord River. The second, Humphrey, set-
tled on the farm with his father, and July 17, 1661, married
Elizabeth Paine. He died January 3, 1716, leaving several
daughters and two sons, Joseph and Benjamin. Benjamin,
who was born May 3, 1681, was the ancestor of Colonel
James Barrett, and that branch of the family. Joseph, born
January 31, 1679, married Lydia Minot, and settled on the
farm with his father. He died April 4, 1763, aged eighty-
five years, leaving eight children, Humphrey, the fifth child,
the father of the subject of this notice, was born August 28,
1715, and settled on the farm with his father, and died in
1783, leaving two sons and six daughters. Humphrey Bar-
rett, the subject of this notice, owned and occupied the same
farm which had been occupied by his fathers since 1640, he
being the fifth generation. He was a farmer by profession.
Although never a hard worker himself, he managed his farm
with great prudence and economy. He prided himself on
having all the work of the farm performed not only in due
order and with great faithfulness, but all completed in due
64 MEMOIR.
season. He generally had his plowing, planting, haying, and
harvesting done and finished earlier than his neighbors. He
was one of those who have found farming a good and profit-
able business. He was contented and satisfied with his farm,
and never solicited any public office or trust. He was as-
sessor of taxes in 1783, and town treasurer from 1792 to
1795. He was a member of the Circle from 1782 to 1822.
Some persons slightly acquainted with him in the latter part
of his life judged him to be unsocial, cold, and indifferent,
but those most acquainted with him knew him to be pre-
cisely the reverse. He was fond of social life, warm-hearted,
and of deep and tender feeling. Few persons sympathized
more fully with their neighbors, both in their joys and sor-
rows. The following acts of his life make apparent some of
these traits of his character : —
A negro by the name of Cesar Robbins, who lived in a
house where Peter Hutchinson now lives, had been in the
habit of getting all the wood for his family use for many
years from Mr. Barrett’s wood-lot, near by him; this was
done with the knowledge and with the implied if not the
express consent of Mr. Barrett. Mr. Barrett usually got the
wood for his own use from another part of his farm. On
one occasion he thought he would get his wood from the lot
by Ceesar’s. He accordingly sent two men, with two teams,
with directions to cut only hard wood. The men had been
gone but a few hours before Caesar came to Mr. Barrett’s
house, his face covered with perspiration and in great agita-
tion, and says, “ Master Barrett, I have come to let you know
that a parcel of men and teams have broke into our wood-
lot, and are making terrible destruction of the very best
trees, and unless we do something immediately I shall be
ruined.” Mr, Barrett had no heart to resist this appeal of
Cesar’s. He told him not to be alarmed, for he would see
that he was not hurt, and would put the matter right. Mr.
Barrett wrote an order to his men to cut no more wood, but
come directly home with their teams, and sent the order by
Caesar.
HUMPHREY BARRETT. 65
Another act. A young man, who had served Mr. Barrett
faithfully for many years, expressed a wish to purchase a
farm and settle in life. Mr. Barrett doubted the policy and
expediency of his purchasing a farm, but finding him bent
upon it, he immediately entered cordially into his project,
and lent him every aid in his power; and when the pur-
chase-money for the farm exceeded the sum due the young
man for his wages by some hundreds of dollars, Mr. Bar-
rett paid the whole, giving him the balance, saying he
wished him to start in the world free of debt ; and about the
same time made to him deeds of real estate, estimated to be
worth more than $2,000, and lodged them with the writer of
this notice to be delivered to the young man at the death of
the maker, saying at the time that the young man was faith-
ful and honest, but had no faculty to keep or use money,
and he feared he would suffer unless something was laid by
for him by somebody,
Mr. Barrett was scrupulously conscientious and just, not
in theory only, but practically ; whatever he believed to be
right and just he executed to the extent of his ability, and
he was equally decided and earnest in the execution whether
it required the sacrifice of his own property or was like to
add to it.
A favorite nephew, who bore his name, and whose guar-
dian he was, died under age in the year 1817, leaving a large
estate, and no relatives nearer than uncle and aunt and the
children of deceased aunts. Mr. Barrett believed that in
equity the estate ought to be distributed equally between the
uncle and aunt and the children of deceased aunts by right
of representation, and although advised by the best legal
counsel in the State that such was not the law, he still in-
Sisted upon having the question carried before the Supreme
Court for decision ; and when the court decided against his
opinion, he carried out his own views of equity by distrib-
uting the portion of the estate that fell to him according to
his opinion of what the law ought to be.
5
66 MEMOIR.
In settling his account as guardian of his nephew the fol-
lowing facts occurred: After he had been fully advised that
the estate would be distributed in a manner he thought
neither equitable nor just, he applied to the writer to make
out his account as guardian, furnishing the evidence as he
believed of the original amount of all his receipts as such
guardian. J made the account, charging him with interest
at six per cent. on all sums from the time of receipt, up to
the time of making the account. Mr. Barrett took the ac-
count for examination, and soon returned it with directions
to charge him with compound interest on all sums received
by him, saying that he believed he had realized as much as
that. I accordingly made the amount conform to his direc-
tions. He then wished me to present the account to the
party who claimed half the estate, and ask him to examine
it with care and see if anything was omitted. This was
done, and no material omission discovered, and no objection
made. On communicating the result to Mr. Barrett, he said
he had always kept all the property of his ward in a drawer
appropriated for the purpose ; that he made the amount of
property in the drawer greater than the balance of the
account, and handing to me the contents of the drawer wished
me to ascertain the precise sum to which it amounted. I
found that it exceeded the balance of the account by the
sum of $3,221.59. He then told me in substance, that he
was quite unwilling to have so large an amount of property
go where it was in danger of being distributed inequitably,
and particularly as he was confident he had disclosed every
source from which he had realized any property of his ward
and the actual amount received, but as he knew not how it
got into the drawer, and intended all the property there to
go to his nephew, he should not feel right to retain it, and
directed me to add it to the account, which was done.
These facts show clearly, I think, not only that his love of
right was stronger than his love of money, but that he would
rather make any sacrifice of property than leave a doubt in
his own mind whether full justice had been done others.
HUMPHREY BARRETT. 67
Mr. Barrett married Rebecca Heywood, the daughter of
Jonas Heywood.
He died without issue March 13, 1827, aged seventy-five
years. He left a will, in which he gave to the First Parish
in Concord $500 for the support of the ministry. The
greater part of his estate, which amounted to more than
twenty thousand dollars ($24,721.54), he gave to Abel B.
Heywood, who now owns and lives on the farm so long
held by him and his ancestors.
December, 1856.
68 MEMOIR.
MEMOIR OF SAMUEL BARTLETT.
BY DR. JOSIAH BARTLETT.
The memory of the subject.of this memoir (Samuel Bart-
lett, Esq.) should be held in high estimation by the people
of Concord, for he was a quiet, unobtrusive, kind-hearted,
Christian gentleman, who for twenty years exerted his influ-
ence for the good of all around him. More particularly
should he be held in grateful remembrance by the Social
Circle, for he was one of its brightest ornaments in its first
organization, the father to its second and probably of its
third resuscitation.
He was the son of Roger Bartlett and Anna Hurd. His
father was born in Brandiscombe, in the west of England,
February 6, 1723. He came early to this country, was en-
gaged in the merchant service as a sea captain, and for many
years sailed from Boston to Bristol, England. He was re-
markable for his strict integrity, temperance, and equanimity
of temper, which won for him the confidence of his employ-
ers, while his upright and dignified deportment commanded
the love and respect of all whom he employed.
He married a daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth Hurd,
of Charlestown, October 9, 1749. Samuel, their only son,
was born November 17, 1752. From his youth he was sur-
rounded with scenes of stirring interest. British fleets were
in our harbors, British troops marched through our streets,
the constant alarm, the frequent ringing of the bells to call
our citizens from their homes through fear of a collision be-
tween the troops and the citizens, made an impression upon
his mind which was never after effaced.
In early life he was desirous of following the profession
SAMUEL BARTLETT. 69
of. his father, but he yielded his preferences, sacrificed his
own inclination to the earnest entreaties of his mother, to
remain at home with her. Failing in his first and darling ob-
ject, his next design was to obtain a liberal education, and for
that end he became a pupil of the famous master Tileston.
Before completing his preparatory studies, his course of life
was again changed.
On the evening of the Boston Massacre, he, with hundreds
of others, ran to King’s Street, on the cry of trouble between
the citizens and soldiers. To the sudden report of fire-arms
on that night close to his right ear, he attributed a deafness
from which he never recovered. For this cause, and the dis-
turbed state of the country, he relinquished the pursuit of
his studies, and became an apprentice to Mr. Samuel Minot,
an eminent goldsmith in Boston. Before he got through his
time, the war of the Revolution began. Boston was in. a
state of siege. The inhabitants fled for safety, and he, the
sole protector of his mother, and the families of her two
daughters, his father being at sea, secured a safe retreat for
them at Woburn.
Before leaving Boston he was married, September 19, 1776,
to Mary, daughter of Isaiah Barrett,-a respectable merchant
of that place. Before the close of that year he removed to
Concord. Here twelve of his thirteen children were born ;
here, in the old church, they were christened, where he and
his wife were constant worshipers and exemplary members.
Both of them early embraced Christianity, for we find on our
church records that he was transferred from the North Street
church in Boston to this church January 17, 1789 ; while his
wife, on the 29th of March of the same year, was recom-
mended from the church in Royalston. How she, a Boston
lady, should have been a member of that church I cannot di-
vine. I also find that they were both transferred from the
church in Concord to the church in Cambridge on the 2d of
May, 1811, more than fifteen years after their removal from
us. I know of no member of -the church of whom the Rev.
70 MEMOIR.
Dr. Ripley, who was his pastor, had a higher love and re-
spect, than for Mr. Bartlett, always speaking of him as one
of his bosom friends.
On coming to Concord Mr. Bartlett opened a small store,
vending the usual merchandise of a country trader. He was
not particularly successful in this new enterprise ; the unset-
tled state of the country, the great depression of business,
the uncertainty of the currency, all contributed to render ex-
tensive business transactions difficult, if not unsafe. I know
not how long he continued a merchant, or when he returned
to his old vocation as a goldsmith. But on the completion
of the new jail, in 1788, he bought the old one, together with
the county house, situated at the west end of the.centre bury-
ing-ground, near Bigelow’s tavern; and here, in the front
room of the house, he kept his shop, while His family occu-
pied the other rooms. Here he plied his ae and in many
families are still shown the silver spoons of hi§ manufacture.
According to Shattuck’s report, in 1777, he, with Captain
Joseph Brown, Lieutenant Emerson Cogswell, all of whom
came from Boston early in the war of the Revolution, to-
gether with Judge Wood, Jonas Heywood, and Captain David
Brown, formed a society called the “ Social Society,” which
was the origin of the present ‘ Social Circle.” A Dr. Brown
was admitted in 1780, who soon rendered himself obnoxious
to the rest by his excessive desire to do all the talking, and
after a few years one by one refused to attend, and the so-
ciety was broken up in 1784 or ’85. Its reorganization in
1785, under the name of the “ Social Club,” as Dr. Ripley
informs me, originated with Mr. Samuel Bartlett.
Its principal object was to cherish the social affections, to
draw closer the bonds of friendship, to elevate the tone and
improve the character of social intercourse. The entertain-
ments were at first frugal ; but deviations in this respect
proved injurious, and broke up the “club,” 1792 or ’93. The
sinning members were Captain Duncan Ingraham and Cap-
tain Elnathan Jones, who vied with each other in giving ex-
SAMUEL BARTLETT. 71
pensive suppers. In 1794 it was again reorganized under its
present Constitution, under the name of the “Social Circle,”
and we find the name of Samuel Bartlett second on the list
as elected in 1794, and removed in 1795, the year he left
Concord for Cambridge. Well is it that his name should be
held in high respect by our members, for to him are we in-
debted again and again for its resuscitation, having been as
often periled, if not destroyed, by the folly of some of its
members.
He was not ambitious of, nor did he receive, the highest
offices in the gift of his townsmen. For years he was chosen
to the humble office of sealer of weights and measures, and
was often elected clerk of the market (an office now obso-
lete), the duties of which I have not been able to learn. It
must have been of some importance, for only our first men
held the appointment. He was often on important commit-
tees, as in laying out roads, making bridges, remodeling the
church, and the difficult duty in relation to Dr. Ripley’s sal-
ary, which became complicated from a depreciation of the
currency (to what extent there was a great difference of opin-
ion), which required time, caution, and conciliation to adjust
amicably, and took years to accomplish.
The times were dark enough in Massachusetts. Soon
after the war in 1788, the whole community felt the griev-
ances of the times, when in Shays’ insurrection many were
induced to appeal to arms to compel the government to
grant relief. Concord lamented the existing evils, but her
proceedings were constitutional, conciliatory, and highly
commendable.
Of the delegates chosen from Concord to attend the con-
vention of Middlesex County to consult upon matters of pub-
lic grievance, Mr. Bartlett was one of the five, and to guard
against any rash proceedings, the town instructed them to
Oppose every unconstitutional measure which may be pro-
posed by said convention. Several in the convention from
other towns took an active part in the subsequent opposition
a2 MEMOIR.
to the government. The whole thing met with a stern re-
buke from Concord, and the people in town meeting de-
clared their utter abhorrence of such riotous conduct, and a
committee (of which he was one) was raised, to prepare a
circular letter to other towns in the county, invoking their
cooperation in acting as mediators between the government
and the opposition, and in using their utmost endeavors to
calm the minds of the people. The circular was issued and
did much to conciliate the people. A copy was sent to the
governor and council for their approbation. It was sent in
post haste by Captain Duncan Ingraham on Sunday morn-
ing, the state of the times demanding the session’ on that
day. The Concord proceeding was highly approved by the
executive, and by their order it was sent to other counties,
who took like measures to prevent the rising of the people
against the government. These measures succeeded, and
the insurrection was suppressed without bloodshed.
The committee chosen to prepare instructions to their
representative, Isaac Hubbard, in 1788, consisted of five, of
whom Mr. Bartlett was one, and the paper, said to be written
by him, is a remarkable performance. It shows the hand
and heart of a scholar and a patriot, and a familiarity as well
with the duties of a statesman as of-a citizen. I will make
a single extract. In reviewing the causes which concurred
to make our situation critical and distressing, he says: “ The
debts contracted in the late war, public and private, the decay
of public faith and credit —the want of public and private
virtue — the shameful neglect of economy, frugality, and in-
dustry —an unbounded fondness for foreign luxuries and man-
ners — with a restless, impatient, unreasonable jealousy of
our rulers, are the causes of our present unhappiness, to re-
move which we conceive no effectual remedy can be applied,
unless as a people we tread back the steps that have led us
to our present unhappy situation.”
On the 3d of November, 1794, he was voted for as candi-
date for register of deeds for Middlesex County. On this
s
SAMUEL BARILETT. 73
election there was no chdice. The vote in Concord stood
for Mr. Bartlett, fifty-six, for Dr. Abiel Heywood, thirty. An-
other meeting was called on the 30th of December of the
same year, which resulted in the choice of Mr. Bartlett. At
this election the vote stood in Concord for him, fifty-six ;
for his opponent, fifteen.
Early in 1795 Mr. Bartlett removed 'to Cambridge, and for
twenty-six years filled the office with fidelity, doing the duty
with honor to himself and to the perfect satisfaction of the
county. He died in Cambridge on the 2gth of September,
1821, in the sixty-ninth year of his age.
Thus I have imperfectly given the leading events in the
life of one of our most cherished members. And it is due
to his memory that some memorial should be preserved, to
whom all our oldest inhabitants who remember him accord
the character of an honest-hearted and upright gentleman,
For my part, I should feel honored if I could claim relation-
ship to him,
February, 1858.
74 MEMOIR.
MEMOIR OF DAVID BROWN.
BY JOHN S,. KEYES.
David Brown, the sixth on the original list, and the fourth’
on the list of the present organization, was born in Concord
March 12, 1732 or ’33, according to the town records, but
perhaps a year or two earlier. He was the only son and the
fourth child of Ephraim and Hannah Brown, on the same
authority. His father was deacon in the church from 1744
to 1788, and seems to have been a prominent man in church
matters, though not conspicuous in the civil or military affairs
of the town. He probably was a stern religious man, who
brought up his son in accordance with the strict notions of
that time. Young David was married to Abigail Munroe
September 30, 1756, by Rev. Mr. Bliss. His wife was prob-
ably of Concord, and, though not so recorded, may have been
a daughter of Thomas Munroe, who had quite a family of
girls about Brown’s age. They seem to have lived happily
together for many years in the old red house on the bank
of the river, near the battle-ground, and had a large family
of children. Mr. Brown was an active man in town affairs
before the Revolution, having served as selectman three
years from 1767 to 1770, and filled several other town offices.
He was a warm patriot in those troubled times before the
breaking out of the war, and held in good consideration by
his fellow-men.
In 1774 he was appointed on a committee of inspection,
to see that the articles of association of the Continental Con-
gress were strictly observed, a part of whose duty it was to
report to the town the names of those who failed in their
duty to the country, and whom it was recommended should
DAVID BROWN. 75
be treated with neglect and detestation. About this time he
was chosen captain of a company of minute-men, and as he
is mentioned first in the list of captains of the regiment of
minute-men commanded by Colonel Abijah Pierce of Lin-
coln, probably was the senior captain, and active in its for-
mation. His company, there is reason to believe, was the
“Alarm company,” so-called, who were directed to take
care of and learn the exercise with the cannon. They, or a
part of them at least, paraded on the morning of the rgth
of April, 1775, at daybreak, and finding that the British
troops were not then close at hand, were dismissed to meet
at beat of the drum. Although no stores seem to have
been deposited at his house, yet from his rank, Captain
Brown must have been a busy man in the winter and early
spring of that year, when great military ardor prevailed, and
the companies were paraded and drilled almost every week.
Rev. Mr. Emerson preached more than one sermon for their
especial benefit, and directly to them drawn up in a body in
the church, at these parades. At the battle of the North
Bridge, after the parade in the early morning, Captain
Brown’s company, having again assembled on the hill in
the centre of the town, fell back on the: approach of the
enemy to the high ground west of the bridge, near his resi-
dence, and were drawn up in line with the other companies
awaiting the onset. While thus halted he had an oppor-
tunity to visit his home and make such preparations as the
time admitted for the safety of his family, exposed from their
proximity to great danger, as the detachment of the British
troops had passed directly by his house on their way to
Colonel Barrett’s. After the passing of this detachment of
“ Reg’lars,” the Acton company, under Captain Isaac Da-
vis, arrived on the ground, and marched down towards the
bridge. Captain Brown led his company parallel with the
Acton company, on the north side of the causeway, in files
of two abreast, and equally in front and near to the enemy’s
force posted at the bridge. There he stood at the head of
76 MEMOIR.
his men on the birthplace of American liberty, and gave the
order if he did not fire “the shot heard round the world.”
He escaped unwounded, though one of the privates in his
company bearing the same name was wounded by the first
fire of the British, before Captain Davis was killed, showing
the exposed position of his company. So much at least he
served his country on that eventful day, and if he was not
in active service.afterwards in the Revolution, it was prob-
ably owing to the circumstances of his family.
He was from 1776 to 1783, except one year, chosen on
the committee of correspondence of the town, which is sup-
posed to have led to the formation of this Circle after the
war was ended. In 1779 he was chosen a delegate to the
State Convention, that met here July 14th, to establish a
State price current, and again in October of that-year he
and Colonel Cumming were delegates to another State Con-
vention, that sat seven days deliberating on the same sub-
ject. In 1781 he represented the town in the Great and
General Court, an honor and duty much more important
than in these degenerate days. During Shays’ rebellion he
was active on the side of government, and attended as a
delegate a county convention in August, 1786, to consult
on matters of public grievance under which people labor,
instructed by the town ‘to oppose every unconstitutional
measure which may be proposed.” In September of the
same year, when Job Shattuck, at the head of an armed body
of men, came here to prevent the court from holding its
session, he seems to have been active in preventing a riot.
He was a member of a committee chosen by the town, at a
special meeting, to mediate between the insurgents and the
authorities. This committee called a county convention, and
by their timely efforts prevented violence and bloodshed.
This was his last public position, and as his father died in
1788, and he had himself passed the meridian of life, he
probably confined himself to the duties, cares, and enjoy-
ments of private life afterwards. He died of a fever May
DAVID BROWN. 77
22; 1802, at the age of seventy-two, according to the record
of deaths, but sixty-nine if his birth record is correct. From
the nature of his disease it may be inferred that he was a
robust and active man to the end of his life, and may have
kept up his attendance at the Circle, though his name does
not appear in the scant records that exist of their meetings.
He left a widow and a family of ten children, some of whom
were partially insane and feeble minded, and were supported
on the farm within my recollection. Captain Brown was a
tall, fine looking man, very kind-hearted and social in his
feelings, well to do in matters of property, owning the farm
on which he lived, then quite valuable, and carrying it on
up to the time of his death. Although a man of much con-
sideration in those days, and often quoted in his sayings
and doings, there are but few anecdotes of him that have
survived ; one of them is so creditable to his kindness of
heart that it is worthy of preservation.
When Nathan Barrett, Sen’r, had, by the death of his
father, the farm on the hill north of the river left him on
condition that he should pay off the other heirs, fifteen in
number, $100 each on their coming of age, it was consid-
ered so hard an undertaking that he could find no one of
his relatives in town who would become surety for him on
his bond to the probate court, and all endeavored to dis-
suade him from the attempt to carry out the provisions of
the will. In this extremity he applied to Captain David
Brown who readily signed for him, asking of Mr. Barrett
only this, that if ever any of his children should want a
similar favor Mr. Barrett should sign for them. This did
not become necessary, as Captain Brown provided liberally
for his family in his will, leaving to his widow one half the
house, and a good support during life.
Another anecdote is, that the brave captain never crossed
alone the causeway to the ‘“ North Bridge” after dark, on
his way to and from market, without singing at the top: of
78 MEMOIR.
his lusty voice some good old psalm tune, that would ring
out in the night, and wake many a sleeper in the village.
Perhaps to lay the ghosts of the British soldiers buried
there, perhaps as a requiem to their souls, — who knows ?
Fanuary 18, 1853.
EZERIEL BROWN. 79
MEMOIR OF EZEKIEL BROWN.
BY GRINDALL REYNOLDS.
Whenever I have heard Mr. Lemuel Shattuck’s sketch of
the history of the Social Circle read at an annual meeting, in
which Dr. Brown is spoken of as “ the notorious disturber of
the first society,” and the one to whose evil influence the
untimely end of that first organization is to be attributed, I
have always felt a great deal of curiosity to know just who
and what he really was, Yet, whenI made inquiry, I was not
able to find a single person who could say with certainty that
he had ever seen Dr. Brown, and hardly one who could add
anything concerning his origin, character, and early or later
fortunes, to the few facts contained in the sketch to which I
have alluded. Perhaps a somewhat extended notice of one
whose name, for good or evil, is the most marked in the
early annals of the Circle, may gratify the curiosity of others
beside myself.
Unquestionably Dr. Brown was the lineal descendant of
Thomas Brown, the first of the name, who came to Concord
in 1640, and so was a Concord man by birth and family as
well as by habitation: for on the 26th of January, 1646,
there was born to this Thomas Brown and his wife Bridget
ason, whom they named Eleazer. With this birth record
the name disappears from the annals of the town. But in
the next parish of Chelmsford, twenty-eight years after, on
February 9, 1674, Eleazer Brown, of Concord, was married to
Dinah Spaulding, of that town. Of this marriage Eleazer
Brown, Jr., born in Chelmsford, April 2, 1676, was the first
child. An old deed, dated January 26, 1698, says that Elea-
zer Brown, Sen’r, with Dinah, his wife, formerly of Chelms-
80 MEMOIR.
ford, and now of Canterbury, County of New London, Conn.,
to express his love for his son, Eleazer Brown, Jr., weaver,
then dwelling in Concord, gives him a small tenement and
six acres of meadow and twelve acres of upland, situated in
Chelmsford. This second Eleazer soon after bought land
in Concord, near the ancestral acres, and made his perma-
nent home there. We assume, then, that Eleazer Brown, Jr.,
whom we shall prove to be the grandfather of Dr. Ezekiel
Brown, was also the grandson of Thomas Brown, first of the
name here.
The career of this man, Eleazer Brown, Jr., we can trace
with certainty and some minuteness. He was born, as we
have seen, at Chelmsford in 1676. He was in Concord in
1698, then a young man of twenty-one, having learned from
his father the trade of weaver. He was here again in 1703,
having in the intervening period of five years married and
had two childen away from Concord. For the next six-
teen years he no doubt worked here at his trade and pros-
pered. Then he began to invest his earnings in land. In
1719 he bought fifteen acres of Mary Chandler, and six of
his cousin Thomas, and in small lots of others, until he Le-
came the owner of a little farm of forty acres of upland and
meadow, and eight acres of woodland. To this he added, in
1740, by purchase of Captains David and Robert Melvin, a
little house and barn, and a two-acre lot surrounding them.
From this time he is termed indifferently Eleazer Brown,
weaver or yeoman. This small farm was, if we may so term
it, the land departure of this branch of the Brown family in
Concord. Mainly it was between what was the Groton and
is now the Lowell road and Spencer brook, and forms the
northern part of the Jate farm of Jacob B. Farmer. A cent-
ury ago, from a few rods north of Mr. Farmer’s house to the
present residence of Abel Clark, the old Groton road fell
back from the present highway in a deep half circle. Back
of this half circle, and running to Spencer brook, was most
of the land, and probably the house and barn, though there
EZEKIEL BROIWN 81
are some reasons to think that the buildings may have
stood just this side the house of Thomas Davis. Here Elea-
zer Brown lived until increasing years, and possibly the de-
parture of his son Ezekiel from town, made a change in his
affairs necessary, and in 1753 or ’54, for a small considera-
tion, he conveyed one half of his lands and buildings to his
son Benjamin, a cordwainer. He died on the rst of April,
1755, aged seventy-nine years. Before his death he had
given his children £516 os. 9@., and left £116 ros. 1¢@. more
to be divided among them, I picture this man Eleazer as a
person of real substance, prudent and industrious, who laid
the foundations of his children’s success.
Of his twelve children two died in infancy. Three, Elea-
zer, Nathan, and Samuel, moved to Rutland, Worcester Co,
Benjamin, some fifteen years after his father’s death, sold
out his half of the paternal acres to his nephew Jacob Brown,
and moved to Swanzea, N. H. Bridget, the oldest daughter,
married Benjamin Harwood, a weaver of Westboro. Mary,
the second daughter, was the wife of Timothy Wesson, a car-
penter of Lincoln, who died about the time of the Revolu-
tion, poor and in debt. One son and one daughter of Eleazer
remained in Concord. Abishai, who added to his own nume-
rous acres nearly all his father’s place by purchase of the
other heirs, and who died in 1764, leaving an estate of £500
or more, having already bestowed upon his two older sons
property of equal value. Thrifty, like his father! Abishai’s
oldest son Jacob received by gift or purchase all the northern
half of his father’s farm, and with it the old family home.
He was a sturdy, rugged, hard-working man, and died of
old age in 1816, transmitting to his heirs more than $7,000.
Neither did he fall from the ways of his fathers. His will,
which states that he left thirty-seven sheets, thirty-six pillow-
cases, nine table-cloths, ten bed-quilts, ten blankets, and other
household goods in proportion, proves that to the gift of
gathering gear he added the Jove of home comfort. The
original estate of Eleazer Brown and much more passed from
é
82 MEMOIR.
his hands into those of his grandson, Jacob Brown Farmer,
and is now the property of Daniel B. Clark. Abishai’s second
son, Abishai by name, was a captain, then a major, in the
Revolution. He received the southern part of his father’s
farm, near Mr. Frank Dakin’s, and lived in a house standing
in what is now the crossing of the roads, opposite Mrs. Hil-
dreth’s. On the strength of his revolutionary experiences,
he gained credit as a bone-setter. Dying, he transmitted his
estate to his son Abishai, third of the name, who in turn
died a single man, within the memory of many. Hepzibah,
the youngest daughter of Eleazer Brown, married John Flint,
one of the prominent men of the town in his day. Their
grandson, John Flint, now lives on his ancestor’s place, and
their granddaughter, Clarissa Hunt, wife of Daniel Hunt, has
been known by many members of the Circle.
The fortunes of one son of Eleazer remain to be consid-
ered, namely, of Ezekiel Brown, Sen’r, the father of Dr.
Brown. He was born in Concord, July 13, 1720, the tenth
of twelve children. At the age of twenty, May 14, 1741, he
married Abigail Davis, a neighbor’s daughter. Two months
later he joined the church. Two months before, his father
gave him a hundred pounds to start him in the world. So
at twenty-one years and thirteen days he had all the requi-
sites for a successful and reputable life, —a wife, money in
his purse, and that standing in society which membership of
a church was apt to give in those days. There is some reason
to believe that he owned a part of the old Tolman house.
He certainly held a few detached pieces of land near his
father’s place. The chances are, that for .a dozen years or
so he helped his father on his farm, as at that period he is
styled in legal papers yeoman. He did some military serv-
ice, was sergeant, then lieutenant, and at the time of his
father’s death was absent in that expedition against the Aca-
dians, to which Longfellow, in his ‘ Evangeline,” has given
a dubious immortality. In 1754 he bought eighty acres in
Groton of Gershom Fletcher, and moved to that town. Dun-
EZEKIEL BROWN. 83
. Stable in 1761 warns Lieutenant Ezekiel Brown, Abigail his
wife, and their seven children, Ezekiel, Eunice, Sherwin,
Hepzibah, Abigail, Mary, Beriah, and Hannah, who have
lately come from Groton, to depart,.as the town refuses to
admit them as citizens. I think that the elder Ezekiel was
at this time poor. Not that the proclamation of Dunstable
proves it. For our. Puritan fathers, not given to hospitality,
and having no desire to risk entertaining angels unawares,
and having before their eyes always the danger of increasing
their poor rates, warned, with very little discrimination, all
new-comers. I conjecture Mr. Brown’s poverty rather from
the fact that within a few years he lived at Concord, then at
Groton, then at Dunstable, in a year or two was back to Gro-
ton, and in as brief time was trying Dunstable again. And
there being no evidence to the contrary, one always assumes
that a rolling stone is not gathering much moss. In 1781
he was with his youngest son Beriah in Clinton, Me., and
paid a tax there, with which fact our knowledge of him
ends.
Dr. Ezekiel Brown, the member of the Social Circle, was
his eldest son, and was born in Concord, March 11, 1744.
He was ten years old, therefore, when his father carried him
to Groton, We have seen that at sixteen he was included
in the warning so kindly extended to his family by the town
of Dunstable. Somewhere and somehow, amidst the nume-
rous family migrations, he must have received a respectable
education, for he wrote a good hand, expressed himself with
vigor, and had a good degree of business efficiency. In
1766, at the age of twenty-two, he returned to his native
place. Old Concord, not to be behind its younger sister,
Dunstable, in its attentions to strangers, warns Ezekiel
Brown, who came from Dunstable in 1766, to depart, as the
town does not propose to receive back this wanderer into its
fold. Nothing daunted by his cool reception, the young
man commenced business, as a general trader, in the old
Jarvis house, now owned and occupied by Mrs. Ezekiel
84 MEMOIR.
Brown and her son George F., who are, I take the liberty
to guess, distant relatives of the doctor himself. This was
in 1768 or 69. In 4770 he was licensed as a retailer in the
town of Concord. In 1772 he was owner of the Deacon Tol-
man house, with the barn and six and a half acres adjoining.
One half of the house he bought of Benjamin Barrett for
#112. The other half, and all the land, we may conjecture
that he had from his father, as he says in a deed that he has
a good right to the estate by purchase and inheritance. This
estate was a triangular Jot, beginning on Lexington Street, at
the land of the late Charles B. Davis, and running on that
street forty rods to the outer front corner of the court-house
lot. It then turned with the North Quarter road, and fol-
lowed that estate twelve rods until it reached the road, then
the way to the common fields, and closed by what was called
the Great Gate. [This is the street which runs by the side
of Miss Emeline E. Barrett’s house.] This way it followed
forty-three rods five feet, until it struck the continuation of
Mr. Davis’s line, nearly opposite the commencement of the
old Agricultural grounds, about one hundred feet before you
reach the big gnarled oak in the sidewalk. By express state-
ment the Old Burying Ground and a small lot, afterwards used
for a slaughter-house, were excepted from the conveyance.
The estate comprised the land on which now stand the Tol-
man house, Mr. Cyrus Pierce’s, Mrs. Humphrey Buttrick’s,
the Catholic church, the town-house, the court-house, and
more than a dozen buildings on the Bedford road. Shortly
after this estate came into Dr. Brown’s possession, he ob-
tained on mortgage of David Whitaker, Reuben Brown, and
others, £133 6s. 8¢., and afterwards on a second mortgage
of Joseph Lee and John Buttrick, #70. These sums were
probably used in his business, ‘The indications are, that for
several years he had a large and profitable trade. But with
the near approach of the Revolution, business was involved
in confusion, property diminished in value, and debtors were
slow to pay, and we need not ascribe to Dr. Brown either
EZEKIEL BROWN. 85
dishonesty or marked business incapacity, when we chronicle
that in 1773 he was unable to meet his debts. His largest
creditors were Nathan Frazier and Frederic William Geyer,
who constituted the firm of Frazier & Geyer. These gentle-
men were sufficiently sharp with their debtor. The sum total
of the debt was £274 155. It consisted of two small notes
overdue six months, a large one overdue less than two
months, and a book account of fifty odd pounds, just due,
when legal proceedings were commenced. The brevity of
the indulgence indicates the financial uncertainty of the
times, the severity of the customs towards debtors, and per-
haps a special distrust of the debtor in hand. At any rate,
a suit was brought in the County Court, May, 1773, car-
tied up to the Supreme Court, and in October of the same
year decided against the debtor. A writ of execution was”
placed in the hands of Josiah Otis, Jr., deputy sheriff. He,
finding no goods worth seizing, committed Ezekiel Brown to
his majesty’s jail in Boston, December 14, 1773. The fact
that no valuable property was found, shows the depression
at that time of real estate; for at a prosperous period the
rights of redemption of the Tolman estate would have paid
the claim in full. The doctor lay in Boston jail until Gen-
eral Washington drove the British out of the city in March,
1776, a period of two years and three months. Then his
patriotic creditor having retired to England to the society of
his friends, there remained none to molest. During his im-
prisonment the doctor studied medicine, and after his release
went as a surgeon into the American army. The time of
this service may be fixed with reasonable certainty as from
1778 to 1781. In 1777 he was chosen clerk of market and
tithing man in Concord. The end of the war found him
again in Concord. Situated as he was, heavy debts hang-
ing over him, he could not engage in trade. He turned to
his new profession. The character and amount of his prac-
tice cannot be determined. But the fact of his practice is
certain. He is uniformly called in legal papers physician.
86 / MEMOIR.
October 11, 1785, he recovered at law a large bill for med-
ical services. One anecdote is preserved, important only as
showing that he was in the list of the practitioners of the
town, and probably after his imprisonment. Old Mr. Hodg-
man says, that when he was a boy his sister had what is
called a jumping toothache. Her friend, Hepsy Barron,
says, “Why don’t you get Dr. Brown to pull it? He won’t
charge you anything.” The advice was taken. Upon her
return, Hepsy’s first salutation was, “Did he pull it?”
“Yes,” was the cheerful answer, “ but he charged enough,”
was added, not so cheerfully. This, we think, must have
occurred as late as 1789, just after the doctor’s release from
his last imprisonment.
The return of peace brought back all the old financial dif-
ficulties. Mr. Geyer was a thorough tory, who, during the
war, and some time after, resided in England. He must
have done a large business, for after the war he recovered of
one William Allen .£16,000, and of another person £4,000.
He at once commenced a fresh attack on Dr. Brown. In
the April session of the County Court, after recounting the
cause of the suit in 1773, without, however, making any allu-.
sion to two and a quarter years’ imprisonment, he proceeds
to say, “Yet tho requested said Brown has never paid either
of said plaintiffs, but has refused to do so to the damage of
the said Frazier & Geyer, as they assert, of £600. The
court awarded, interest and costs included, £498 175. The
Supreme Court, upon appeal, swelled this by costs to 4508
1s. This was April 3, 1786. The writ of execution was
put in the hands of Jonas Lee, deputy sheriff. He found,
as his predecessor did, the Tolman estate. Property was
ruinously low. Still real estate had some value, ‘Three ap-
praisers, Ephraim Wood,. Samuel Jones, and John White,
estimated the property at £450, and the right of redemption
over the mortgages at £201 19s. 2d. Could even this sum
have been obtained in 1773, it would nearly have discharged
the debt; for at that time the doctor owed on mortgages
EZEKIEL BROWN. 87
#203 6s. 8d, and Frazier & Geyer £274 15s., or a sum total
of £478 1s. 8d. There can be little doubt that, under favor-
able circumstances, the estate would have paid the debt.
August 23, 1786, Duncan Ingraham, as agent for Frazier &
Geyer, receipted for £201 19s. 2¢@. Waiting a few months,
perhaps for instructions from London, in April, 1787, he
made a fresh demand for the payment of the balance, now
swelled to some thirty or forty pounds more than the orig-
inal debt. Then it was, I presume, that Dr. Brown of-
fered to settle in government securities, as is stated in Mr.
Shattuck’s sketch. That is, he offered to pay with what he
himself had received for military services, and not unlikely
for old debts too. This offer was not accepted. An execu-
tion was ordered April 17, 1787. The debtor was commit-
ted to Concord jail May 13, 1787; recommitted to the same
place, after an escape, May 8, 1788; removed to Cambridge
July 7, 1788 ; and finally released, by order of his creditors,
June 27, 1789, after a second imprisonment of two years and
one month, or about four years and one half in all. Without
entering at all into the question of the personal character of
the doctor, it stands on the surface that this was a sharp
specimen of the hard treatment granted to unfortunate debt-
ors in that day.. Hard treatment which, in this case, was
rendered no softer by the reflection that it was inflicted by
the Aands of an agent, who was a thorough tory all through
the war, and of a principal, who had gathered together all he
could and fled his country, and who now from England is-
sued his mandates ; and that it was received by one who, in.
his own person and that of at least five of his relatives and
connections, had borne the burdens and encountered the
dangers of the war. It was just the kind of treatment which
led to the Shays’ and Shattuck’s insurrections. Such griev-
ances are forcibly expressed in the memorial of the committee
of eighteen towns, which met at Concord, August 23, 1786.
Grievance 5. The want of a circulating medium has so stag-
nated business, that, unless speedily remedied, it will involve.
88 MEMOIR.
the greater part of the community in hopeless bankruptcy.
Grievance 6. The taking of men’s bodies and confining
them in jail for debts, when they have property sufficient to
answer the demands of their creditors. ,
Dr. Brown married (at what date and in what place I have
not been able to ascertain, but probably about 1771) Mary
Barron, who was the daughter of Oliver and Mary Barron,
and born July, 1753. -The Barrons were probably a Groton
or Chelmsford family. They were also, what we often find
in New England, a decaying family. The ancestors had been
thoroughly respectable. One of the Concord Barrons, Ben-
jamin, died in the middle of the century worth nearly $10,000.
But Oliver Barron was a shiftless, and, on the whole, a dis-
reputable fellow ; a man given to drink, who paid no regard
to the Sabbath, but who, working seven days in the week,
was always half a century behind those who worked six in a
manly fashion. He owned in the North Quarter a little,
rocky farm, hard but strong land, of fifty acres. It was just
on the edge of Carlisle, back a quarter of a mile from the
Cameron house. Upon this farm stood a story and a half
hut, unpainted, unclapboarded, perhaps sixteen feet square,
and having a stone projection on one side, which was the
over, its door opening inward into the room. Inside this hut
was unplastered, the sheathing boards being pasted over with
brown paper and newspapers to keep out cold. A ladder led
up to a little hole, politely called a chamber. Another lad-
der led down to the cellar. This valuable edifice, upon the
death of its owner, was appraised at ten dollars. Two large
Lombardy poplars, growing out of the cellar, and which were
said to have been planted by the daughter Hannah, mark the
site of the place, and can be seen to-day by the curious. In
this hut Oliver Barron brought up, or suffered to grow up,
ten children. Two anecdotes will show the character of the
man, and the estimation in which he was held. He had a
large orchard, mainly of ungrafted fruit, whose product he to
a great degree turned into cider. On one occasion his taxes
EZEKIEL BROWN. 89
fell due, and he had nothing which he could turn into money
but cider. So he harnessed his old horse and started for
Charlestown to dispose of the requisite quantity. But such
was his general incapacity to do anything but eat and drink
and potter about the farm, that he had to take his-wife Molly
to do the trading and make the change. He never got in
hay enough to keep his few cattle through the winter. When
he was hard up he used to go to his neighbor, Charles Brown,
who lived in the old:Mason house, to borrow what he called
a jag of hay. Not being so prompt to pay as to borrow, Mr.
Brown became tired of the custom. One day when the old
man had shouldered his pitchfork, on which was a good bun-
dle of hay, he offered his neighbor. Buttrick’s roguish boy a
small sum if he would set fire to the bundle. Nothing loath,
the boy did it. After a while the heat told its own story.
Mr. Barron threw down the bundle, saying, with great cool-
ness, considering the warmth of the occasion, “* Humph!
Buttrick’s devil Joe’s work.” The hero was Mr. Joe But-
trick, father-in-law of Charles Dakin. Tradition fails to re-
cord whether this fire in the rear cured its object of his bor-
rowing propensities. Suffice it to say, that at his death he
had pretty much ate and drank up his farm, so that there was
little or nothing left when the widow’s thirds were allowed.
Dr. Brown’s mother-in-law was the opposite of her husband.
She was sober and virtuous, a member of the church, and a
truly good woman. All the thrift of the establishment was
concentrated in her. She rode to market on horseback two
or three times a week, with panniers, doing her own and her
neighbor’s little marketing. It was on her return from one
of these expeditions that she met in the highway, at the top
of Nathan Barrett’s hill, a black bear, possibly the last of
that respectable family who honored Concord with his resi-
dence. She must have been a kind-hearted woman and effi-
cient in her benevolence ; for it is affectionately remembered
by the old people, that if there was a death in the neighbor-
hood, or a case of great sickness, or any kind of sorrow ex-
go MEMOIR.
perienced, old Molly Barron was the first to come to the post
of fatigue or danger, and the last to desert it.
Of the ten children, the boys, by some principle of natural
selection, not mentioned by Darwin, took mainly after the
father, andthe girls after the mother. Elias was a trooper
in the Revolution, and afterwards a day laborer in Carlisle.
He made no headway in the world, but died poor, leaving a
son in the almshouse. Oliver was a foot soldier in the Rev-
olution, then a sailor. Finally he was shipwrecked in winter,
and so badly frozen and crippled that he was an object
of charity the rest of his days. Ben. Barron, the third son,
was the black sheep in the fold. He was a butcher, given
to drink, and light-fingered. At that period there were two
Blood families, Ezra and Jeremiah, one on the edge of Car-
lisle, the other in Bedford. The whole families, men, women,
and children, some ten or a dozen in all, carried on a steady
system of night thieving. Not a piece of linen, or an article
of clothing, or a tool of any kind, could be left out with im-
punity. My informant remembers being sent out barefoot
more than once to bring in the axe, or the beetle and wedges,
which he had carelessly left out. Their attentions to their
neighbor’s poultry were so notorious, that they were called
“Hen-roost Bloods.” One story has a dry humor about it
which entitles it to preservation. A farmer was out one
evening surveying his outbuildings, when he espied one of
the Bloods approaching his sheep-fold. Hiding behind a
shed he awaited the result. “Mr. Ram,” says the marauder,
addressing with utmost gravity the horned guardian of woolly
innocence, “I want a fine young lamb.” “ Take your
choice,” was the answer in a feigned voice. ‘TI will take
this one,” throwing a fat young lamb, the best in the flock,
over his shoulder. “And Mr. Ram, hark ye, please call day
after to-morrow morning at daybreak and I will pay you four
dollars.” Punctually, at the time appointed, the ram, led by
his master, and with a purse around his neck, was butted
against the door. The thief opened the door and took a
EZEKIEL BROWN. 91
look. Then, as if the ram was the real hero of the transac-
tion, he cried out, ‘* Cuss the brute, I did n’t think he heard
what I said.” He went in, got four dollars, put it in the
purse, slammed to the door, and retired. With this thieving
gang Ben. Barron became connected, first by marriage with
one of the daughters, afterwards by participation in the lar-
cenies. These robberies became so frequent, and so utterly
unbearable, that the whole neighborhood was aroused. A
watch was set, the culprits detected in their evil deeds, and
hunted down, Eleven, including Ben. Barron, were arrested.
He escaped by turning state’s evidence. The rest were con-
victed, and men and women alike were whipped in Concord
Square, and then sent to Castle Island, in Boston Harbor,
whence they never returned. Ben. survived but a little while,
though long enough to be fined for purloining a silk hand-
kerchief from the store of Deacon White. In 1796 he fell
dead, in the field front of his father’s holse, of apoplexy.
His son David is now in our poor-house.
The Barron girls were fashioned of different stock. Most
of them made respectable marriages. Hannah, a single
woman, supported herself to an extreme old age by honest
labor, leaving property something more than sufficient to
bury her. She was the heroine of the Ephraim Jones tavern,
who, on the rgth of April, 1775, protected the province treas-
urer’s money chest from the British soldiers, by insisting
sturdily that the room in which it was placed was her bed-
chamber. Mary, the doctor’s wife, was a good and pleasant
girl, with many of her mother’s virtues and a somewhat bet-
ter education. She was ir Concord several times in the first
years of the century, and left a pleasant impression upon the
minds of those who saw her.
Mr. Shattuck says, in his sketch, that the first Circle was
broken up-by the garrulousness of the doctor, who would do
all the talking. Excuse me, if, in audacious defiance of the
antiquarian lore of Mr. Shattuck and of a cherished tradi-
tion of the Circle, as old, perhaps, as I am, I pronounce this
92 MEMOIR.
a most lame and impotent conclusion. That twenty-four
men of character and standing, and of no little obstinacy of
disposition, too, should give up a cherished social enjoyment
on account of one long tongue, has always been too much for
my faith. Let me offer an explanation which seems more
ptobable. The causes of the dissolution were probably per-
sonal enmity, party animosity, and social distinctions. What
cause was there for personal enmity? Duncan Ingraham,
then one of the leading men in the Circle, was made the
agent, after the war, of his son-in-law, Mr. Geyer, to col-
lect Dr. Brown’s debt by all means, fair or foul. [It is to be
noted, that before the war Mr. Ingraham had had nothing to
do with the matter.] Efforts to this end began, I presume,
as early as 1783 or ’84, by importunities and threats of all
sorts. Then followed the suit at law, then the seizure of
the house, and all culminated in a harsh and useless impris-
onment, in the utter ruin of professional business, and in the
wretched poverty of a wife and seven children, the eldest
scant fourteen years old. Can we conceive of the princi-
pal actors in such transactions meeting week after week in
social relations without bitter encounters, — when, too, it is
pretty sure that both had their friends in the Circle? Add,
now, this other fact, that Geyer was a thorough tory, who
had fled the country; that Mr. Ingraham never had any love.
to spare for the colonies until the surrender of Cornwallis
destroyed the hopes of the most sanguine British sympa-
thizer ; and, finally, that the Browns, in each and every
branch, were thorough-going patriots, who had proved their
devotion by hard and poorly-paid services, and you have the
amplest cause of division. Consider one other fact. Duncan
Ingraham was an aristocrat, affecting the society of grand
people, given to making feasts for British officers and men
of blood and mark, but somewhat coarse and rough in his
treatment of those whom he disliked. The Browns, at any
rate of the Eleazer stock, were by position democrats, men,
some of them, strong, sturdy men, who were struggling up by
EZEKIEL BROWN. 93
hard toil from poverty to comfortable circumstances and re-
spectable position. I cannot think that such men would fit
together well. The second casualty of the Circle proves how
sensitive some of its members were to anything which savored
of aristocratic pretensions, for it took just two ostentatious
suppets to suspend its life for a year. The doctor may have
been very outspoken, very pugnacious in defense of his rights,
very tenacious in his memory of wrongs, and very free in
maintaining his side of the controversy. But his after career
proves him to have been a man of more than ordinary force
of character, and not the garrulous fool Mr. Shattuck’s
sketch would paint him.
In 1789 or ’90, Dr. Brown moved with his family to that
part of Clinton, Kennebec Co., Me., which has been within
fifty years incorporated under the name of Benton. He was
forty-six years old. Two distinct plans of life had ended in
complete failure. He had suffered hardships, if not wrongs,
sufficient to break the courage of most men. That he started
afresh proves his will; that he succeeded, his capacity. He
had a wife and seven children dependent upon him, the old-
est son being but fifteen years old. All that he had to look
to for support was his hands and five or six hundred acres
of wild, uncleared land in a new town in Maine, which land
had little or no moneyed value, and which he held under what
his son calls a King George grant. To the work given him
to do he buckled’ down bravely. With what help he could
get from his sons, he built hima hut and began to clear
his farm, meanwhile doing all the business as a physician
which he could. He prospered wonderfully. As his family
grew up, he erected on the place a large frame house, in which
they kept a tavern, and sold, I am afraid, a good deal of
liquor, as Maine taverns then, if not now, were very sure to
do. ‘The doctor withdrew from the active care of the house
and farm, and devoted himself thenceforth to the practice of
medicine, in which he continued actively almost to his eight-
ieth year. In his day he was accounted, not only in his own
94 MEMOIR.
town, but also throughout the county, an excellent physician.
He held the office of town clerk and selectman, and was in
all respects a prominent and influential citizen. He died
June 30, 1824, a little over eighty years old, leaving a nice
property in the shape of a large and excellent farm, well
cleared, well kept, and well stocked. He probably had, be-
sides, money at interest, but of that I have not certain in-
formation. His wife died May 6, 1832, aged seventy-nine.
There were four sons and four daughters, of whom three sons
and four daughters were born in Concord, and one son in
Benton. Beriah, the last child born in Concord, is now liv-
ing on the father’s place, a feeble, old man of eighty-three.
Samuel, the son born in Maine, has a farm, which belonged to
his father, in the next town of Winslow, and is eighty. Hep-
zibah, a widowed sister, survives in the same town at the
great age of eighty-seven. The business of tavern-keeping,
with its adjunct of a bar-room, was not altogether favorable,
morally, to the doctor’s family. One son and several grand-
sons were ruined by intemperance. But in Benton and the
vicinity there are a great many descendants. Most of them
are hard-working and reasonably well off. Generally speak-
ing, they are persons of ability and considerable influence,
as I am informed. A strong stock, with the faults of
strength of will and passion rather than the faults of weak-
ness !
To any one who has followed this memoir and accepted
its statements, it must seem evident that Mr. Shattuck’s
sketch gives a very incomplete, if not false, impression of
Dr. Brown. .So far from being a weak and vain man, the
probabilities are that he was by nature one of the strongest
and ablest of the early members of the Circle. I do not think
that it is clear, either, that he was a man of a bad temper.
Few people would look back in memory across forty or fifty
years to such an experience as he went through in Concord,
and think kindly of the men who imprisoned him; or even
have pleasant recollections of the society that witnessed his
FOSEPH BROWN. 95
discomfiture. His manly and successful efforts to retrieve
his fortunes entitle him to respect ; and it seems to me to be
full time that in our annals he should be restored to good
fellowship and to an honorable position.
September, 1871.
MEMOIR OF JOSEPH BROWN.
“ Stat nominis umbra.”
96 MEMOIR.
MEMOIR OF REUBEN BROWN,
BY WILLIAM WHITING.
Lieutenant Reuben Brown was born in Sudbury, in the
County of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
in the year 1748. He was the son of Mr. Jotham Brown, of
Sudbury aforesaid. He served his apprenticeship with his
father, after which he came to Concord, in 1770, and com-
menced business as a saddler. In 1771 or 1772 he married
Molly, daughter of Colonel Ezekiel Howe, of Sudbury, by
whom he had three sons and four daughters. His children
were educated as well as the times would afford, and always
moved in the first circle in the town. The daughters were
all married ; one to Colonel Thatcher, one to General Jones,
one to Major Hammond, and one to William Heywood.
Mrs. Hammond was left a widow, and afterwards married
Caleb Billings. Of the sons, one of whom is still living, the
youngest only was married.
Reuben Brown was always a remarkably active, energetic,
and intelligent man. He was social, witty, and equally
ready to take and give a good joke. For feats of agility
or strength he was unsurpassed by any of his age and size.
He was the greatest wrestler in this vicinity. His son Tilly
equaled his father in this respect. Mr. Brown was success-
fully engaged in carrying on his trade when the Revolu-
tionary War broke out, and had been chosen Lieutenant of
one of the military companies.
On the 19th of April, 1775, when it was rumored that
the British were on their way from Boston towards Con-
REUBEN BROWN. 97
cord, Lieutenant Brown was ordered by Major Buttrick of
this town to go towards Boston and obtain information in
relation to their movements. He arrived at Lexington just
as the British fired upon the devoted militia, and returned
without waiting to ascertain the result of the attack. Major
Buttrick inquired if the British fired balls. “I do not
know,” was the reply, “but I think it probable.”
On the same day, by order of Colonel Barrett, Lieutenant
Brown rode more than one hundred miles on horseback to
spread the alarming news of the massacre at Lexington and
the advance of the enemy towards Concord ; this circum-
stance not only shows the great physical strength of the
man, but also the patriotic feelings which could enable him
to bear such extraordinary fatigue. He was employed by
our government to fit out several companies, both foot and
horse, with all their equipments for the war, and he had the
misfortune to lose $1,000 by one of the government con-
tractors, who, after having received the money, never paid it
over to Lieutenant Brown.
After the war was over, he did quite an extensive business
at his trade; he was known far and near as a smart business
man, shrewd in making a bargain ; he was kind to his neigh-
bors, public spirited, and generous to the poor.
I will now relate an anecdote which may tend in some
measure to show what manner of man he was. It occurred
under my own observation.
One warm and sultry day in August Mr. Brown rode on
horseback in front of my shop ; the old gentleman was then
more than seventy-five years of age, the flies troubled the
horse very much, and he seemed so restless that I almost
feared for the safety of the rider, but to my surprise Mr.
Brown gave him a violent blow with a raw-hide whip, which
made him caper all over the door-yard, exclaiming, at the
same time, in a loud voice, “ Why, you devil you, what ails
you?” Said I, “ You have a colt there Mr. Brown, have
you not?” “Yes, d—n him,” said he, “he has been a colt
7
98 MEMOIR.
for more than twenty-five years, and I believe he always
will be.” I might relate more of the same nature, but one
will be sufficient.
Towards the latter part of his life he became a member of
the church, but at what time, his son, Deacon Reuben Brown
(to whom I am indebted for most of the above statements),
does not remember.
He died in 1832, leaving a handsome estate to his heirs.
January, 1854.
EMERSON COGSWELL. 99
MEMOIR OF EMERSON COGSWELL.
BY WILLIAM S. ROBINSON,
Emerson Cogswell was the son of Emerson Cogswell and
Mary Pecker, his wife, and I suppose was born in Ipswich,
a direct descendant of John Cogswell, the first settler of that
town. I have a paper dated June 10, 1793, in which Emer-
son Cogswell, first named, acting as attorney for his mother,
Mary Cogswell, makes an agreement with Thomas Burnham,
administrator of the estate of his father, Thomas Burnham,
in relation to the “thirds” due to Mary from a piece of
property, a house and land. The agreement is that Burn-
ham is to pay thirty-six shillings annually to Mary or her
attorney, during the natural life of said Mary. I have not
been able to ascertain the date of Mr. Cogswell’s birth. His
second child was born in 1774. Emerson Cogswell, Sen’r,
was a tanner, who carried on business near the stone bridge
in Ipswich. Mary Pecker was the daughter of James Pecker,
a Boston wharfinger, and his wife Bridget. There was a
sister of Mary Pecker, named Susannah, who kept a “ pastry
school,” and lived to a great age. I have seen some pa-
triotic verses written by her against the use of tea in the
Revolutionary times. The widow, Mary Pecker Cogswell, as
we have seen, was living in 1793, and probably her husband
had not then been long dead. She lived with her son Emer-
son in Concord, and kept a school in the house, which her
grandchildren attended. The name of Emerson, I conclude,
got into the Cogswell family through the marriage of William
Cogswell, son of the first settler, with Mary, daughter of
Rev. John Emerson, of Gloucester.
I have been informed that Mr. Cogswell moved from Bos-
100 MEMOIR.
ton to Concord during the Revolution. He kept a tavern
in the building which, when I first knew it, was occupied by
Deacon Jarvis, the old bake-house. Shattuck’s ‘‘ History,”
page 357, mentions him as lieutenant under Captain Fran-
cis Brown, of Lexington. On page 353 he is also mentioned
as second lieutenant of the Concord company, under the
organization made in February, 1776, George Minot being
captain, and Edward Wright first lieutenant. The’ title of
lieutenant clung to him probably through life. I have heard
my mother say that people were in the habit of coming to
the house and inquiring, “Is Leftenant Cogsdill at home?”
[Perhaps I may as well say here that the name of Cogswell
is misspelled in Mr. Surette’s ‘‘ History of Corinthian Lodge.”
There is only one g, as in negro. Mr. Cogswell was not a
member of that lodge, but his son William was.] In 1776
the company was employed at Cambridge, and in 1778 in
Rhode Island six weeks. So he was a patriot and no tory.
I suppose the records of your club or Circle, or the biogra-
phies cf some of its members, will tell what his connection
was with its formation. I have heard that he was one of the
founders, and that it was substantially the Committee of
Safety. I have been told that he and Judge Fay’s father
were the latest of the original members who survived (per-
haps after some temporary discontinuance). Cogswell and
Fay met regularly, and had good and satisfactory times to-
gether.
After Mr. Cogswell left the tavern, he carried on the hat-
ting business, back of the meeting-house. I seem to remem-
ber, though I am not quite sure, that hats were made there
when I was quite young. The brook which ran in that
neighborhood was a convenience in this manufacture. Hats
were afterwards made by James Cogswell and others, in the
building where I began later to print the ‘“‘ Yeoman’s Ga-
zette,” on the opposite corner from Billings’s stable, though
I believe this stable is now discontinued. James Cogswell
was of another branch. He is living, or was lately, in Bal-
EMERSON COGSWELL. IOI
timore. Frederic Cogswell, of Concord, is his son, and I
suppose he is the only one in the town who bears the name
of Cogswell. I remember when this hat shop of “ Jim Cogs-
well” was burned, and an old “jour” named Bishop (I
think) was smothered or else burned to death. Hats were
made, say about 1830, on the “ Mill Dam,” by Comfort Fos-
ter and Elisha Colburn and others. My father worked there,
and I used to go to and fro across the common with fifteen
to twenty hats strung over my shoulder, my mother being
one of the trimmers. Elisha Colburn (or Coburn, I forget
which) was tyler of the Masonic Lodge, and his sanguinary
appearance, as he sat upon the seat at the lodge door in the
upper story of the old brick school-house, struck me and the
other boys with terror, even though I knew Colburn pretty
well. The jours were a pretty hard set. But I do not know
that Emerson Cogswell, who carried on the business, was
“hard,” and to him let me return after this unpardonable
digression. He is said to have made the first napped hats
in this region, having learned the art and mystery in Canada
somewhere about 1790 or later, I suppose, for when he went
there he was accompanied by my father, William Robinson,
and his son William Cogswell, both youngsters, born, the
first in 1776, and the second in 1778. They went in the
winter, with a Sleigh and two horses, and once, in crossing
a lake, Mr. Cogswell, hearing the ice crack behind him,
whipped up his horses and got clear, but the team behind
him went through and was lost. He failed in business on
account of one Brown, for whom he was “bound.” Brown
fled to Western Virginia. Mr. Cogswell and Captain Saf-
ford of Beverly went in pursuit of him on horseback, and
found him in Wellsburg. They got some land of him, but it
was never of any value to Mr. C. or any of his descendants.
Some years ago two of my brothers, Franklin and Jeremiah,
then living in Ohio, visited Wellsburg and found traces of
the property in the registry of deeds, but concluded there
was no utility in trying to get hold of it. 1am willing to
102 MEMOIR.
dispose of my share on the terms Henry Thoreau was going
to take Fairhaven Cliffs for cultivation (according to Mr.
Nathan Brooks), “‘at the halves.” Mr. Cogswell was prob-
ably absent many months. Mrs. Davis, the widow of his
son William (now living in Concord), remembers when he
and Safford returned one Sunday in January, 1800, with a
pair of horses and a sleigh loaded with furs. Meanwhile an
attachment had been put upon his property and the doors
closed. ‘Grandfather said (I quote from a letter to me,
written by Mrs. Davis’s daughter, Mrs. Morse, also now living
in Concord) that he should not run away, nor have his doors
closed by man,” and threw them open. On Monday Major
Hosmer, the officer, took him to jail, where .he remained
until Captain Safford took his property and settled the debts.
The property remained in the Safford family till it went into
its present hands, I suppose. It was the large building on
the corner opposite Charles B. Davis’. Mr. Cogswell planted
the elm-tree at the corner.. Mrs. Davis remembers seeing
the buckets of specie with which the debt was paid by Saf-
ford. Ihave not been able to find out how long he lived
there. He took boarders previous to his financial troubles,
and Mrs. Davis says that Dr. Ripley boarded with him from
the time he came to Concord (1778) until his marriage. I
have heard that Mr. Cogswell fell out with Dr. Ripley, and
finally refused any longer to hear him. Mrs.’ Davis remem-
bers hearing him say that he went to hear the doctor preach
as long as he got any information from him. This, perhaps,
implied that others went to hear him longer. Dr. Ripley,
however, was a frequent visitor at the house, and I believe
they were persbnally on good terms. Mr. Cogswell read his
Bible diligently, and perhaps ostentatiously, as the people
went by his house to meeting. He advised (probably co-
erced) his children and all the members of his family to go
to meeting, no doubt trusting to their good sense to find out
when the supply of information failed, and he enjoined on
my uncle, John Robinson, to remember the texts. ‘If any
EMERSON COGSWELL. 103
of the children remained at home, it was his practice to keep
them very quiet during meeting time. They must either sit
on their blocks and hear him read, or read their own books.”
“But the children had to go to meeting usually, whether
they all had bonnets to wear or not,” says Mrs. Davis. I
have in my possession the Bible which I suppose is the one
Mr. Cogswell read while the people went to meeting. On a
fly-leaf is written, ‘Emerson Cogswell, his book, given him
by his mother, Eunice Robinson, to be given to his son Emer-
son Cogswell after his decease, _Concord, December, 1799.”
This Emerson was a son of the subject of this sketch, and
the fact that the Bible was given-to him by his mother
leads me to suppose that Eunice Robinson inherited it from
some of her own family. She seems to have preferred her
own name to that of her husband in making this gift. Per-
haps the entry was made by the son however. The Cogs-
well to whom the Bible was given had several children, but
they all died between 1806 and 1826, and his widow (who
died in Bedford, 1832) gave the Bible to my mother, after
his decease, and she gave it to me in'1855. The Bible is
a Dublin ‘edition of 1714, and has all the services of the
Church of England, Sternhold and Hopkins, the thirty-nine
articles, Apocrypha, and so on. The best used parts of it
are the New Testament and the Psalms. These parts bear
the marks of a good deal of thumbing, whether by Mr. '
Emerson Cogswell or his son I cannot say, but I am quite
sure that, except for the purposes of .this biography, I have
not misused it. Mr. Cogswell moved from the corner house
to the “shop house,” where he lived several years ; then to
the Curtis house, where they remained but a short time, and
finally drifted further into the “ East Quarter,” into a house
belonging to Jonathan Hoar. Here he died of consump-
tion, his health having begun to fail before he moved from
the shop house.. He was buried on the hill, and I believe
near the powder house. I am not sure whether there is a
stone or not, and I cannot say what year he died ; it was
104 MEMOIR.
after 1803. Dr. Ripley attended the funeral, which was in
the month of May, and he said, ‘if there was a good man
he thought Mr. Cogswell was one, though they differed in
their religious views.”
In person Mr. Cogswell was portly, not to say fat, so that
his wife was obliged to buckle his shoes. He wore small-
clothes. His first wife was Eunice Robinson (who gave the
Bible). [And Emerson Cogswell’s sister, Susanna, married
my grandfather, Jeremiah Robinson.] Emerson and Eunice
Cogswell had eight children, to wit: dZary Cogswell (born
before marriage). She married Michael Stone, M. D., of
Framingham or Weston. S7ridget, born April 25, 1774,
burned to death young. Zwcy, born April 27, 1776, married
James Call of Charlestown ; was a widow many years, and
for the last twenty or thirty years of her life lived in the
family of my brother Jeremiah. Died at his house in Jack-
son, Michigan, past eighty years of age. Nochildren. W7/-
zam, heretofore mentioned as having visited Canada with his
father and cousin, my father, born April 5, 1778; died in
Concord in 1827. (1.) Married Betsey Buttrick ; (2.) mar-
ried Mary Buttrick, sister of Betsey. This is the Mrs. Davis
who now lives in Concord with her daughter, Mrs. Morse,
who is the only lineal descendant of Mr. Cogswell now living
in the town. LZmerson, to whom the Bible was given, died
in 1808, aged twenty-nine. His wife was Mary Hunt.
Martha, my mother, born March 12, 1783, married William
Robinson. Died at my home in Concord, November 24,
1856. Susanna married Simon Hunt, brother of Mary
Hunt, wife of Emerson.
I have not the date of Mrs. Cogswell’s (No. 1) death, but
suppose that it was about 1788, for Mr. Cogswell was not
a man to make unnecessary delays, and his second mar-
riage (to Anna Learnard) took place May 3, 1789. Their
children: ames, died in infancy ; Hannah, born January 7,
1791, married in 1826 Samuel Brooks of Charlestown ; after-
wards moved to Warner, N. H., and then to Concord, N. H.
EMERSON COGSWELL. 105
She died January, 1869. Mr. Brooks and a daughter are still
living. Zdward, born August 20, 1792, a seaman I believe.
I think he was lost at sea, and was taken prisoner during
the war of 1812, and died young.
The third wife —be patient —was Elizabeth Buttrick,
widow of Nathan Buttrick of Concord, whose maiden name
was Bateman. She was the mother of Betsey and Mary
Buttrick, the two wives of William Cogswell. Children by
Mrs. Buttrick : Azza, born August 20, 1797, married John
Sweetser ; now living in Winchendon. She has one son liv-
ing. JZary, born March 5, 1800, married John Corey, and
afterwards Stephen Pierce of Chelmsford. Died some years
ago. Lunice, born February 2, 1803, married Richard Whit-
ney of Winchendon; now living a widow in Winchendon ;
has seven children. The third wife survived Mr. Cogswell,
and married for her third husband Amos Hayward of Win-
chendon.
Perhaps Mr. Heywood, the town clerk of Concord, who
has promised me that he will look at the records of the
town, can supply some information not here given relating
to Mr. Cogswell. If so, I hope he will do it, hit or miss.
The only additional item which I am at present able to sup-
ply is the following, which I copy from the legislative re-
solves of 1789 :—
“On the petition of Emerson Cogswell, Resolved, that
Ephraim Wood, Esq., administrator de donzs non in the estate
of Robert Cuming, Esq., late of Concord, deceased, be, and
hereby is, authorized to give a deed of a small piece of land,
lying near Concord meeting-house, that was sold by John
Cuming, Esq., former administrator of the estate of the said
Robert Cuming to the said Emerson Cogswell, the said
Cogswell paying for the same according to agreement.
“Sent down for concurrence,
“ SAMUEL PHILLIPS, JR., President.
106 MEMOIR.
“InN THE House OF REPRESENTATIVES, Fanuary 31, 1789-
“Read and Concurred,
“THEODORE SEDGWICK, JR., Sfeaker.
“ Approved, JoHN Hancock.”
Since this sketch was completed I have received a letter
from Mr. Heywood, who says: “I find by the record that
Emerson Cogswell died May 13, 1808, aged sixty-four, and
the only office that I find he held was that of hogreeve, prob-
ably on account of his second marriage, and that was in
1794. At that time that office was considered a good posi-
tion.” The ¢Azrd marriage Mr. Heywood should have said.
I am glad to find that hogreeves were so highly esteemed in
Concord. The uninstructed intellect would have supposed
the office of town clerk, or of selectman, to be superior in
dignity, if not usefulness.
It is possible that my brothers, to whom I have written
long ago on the subject, may sometime furnish me with new
facts concerning Mr. Cogswell’s life. But I think it doubt-
ful whether, at this late day, much more can be ascertained
as to his life and character.
Memorandum in J. A. Robinson’s family Bible. Emerson
Cogswell died in Concord, May 13, 1808, aged sixty-four.
The following notice of his death was copied from a Boston
paper: “ He was a valuable member of society, and his loss
is deeply regretted by many who have tasted of and experi-
enced the substantial benefits of his beneficence. He was a
faithful and interesting companion, and an honest man.”
February 7, 1871,
YONATHAN FAY. 107
MEMOIR OF JONATHAN FAY.
BY JONATHAN F, BARRETT.
Jonathan Fay was one of the original members of the So-
cial Circle upon its final organization in 1795, and is men-
tioned by Dr. Ripley among those who took part in its ear-
lier, or, as our historical sketch of the club terms it, its
second organization, in 1785 86.
He was born in Westborough, Massachusetts, January 21,
1754. His parents were Captain Jonathan and Joanna Fay.
His father died in 1800, at the age of seventy-five years, and
on his grave-stone is the line —
“An honest man’s the noblest work of God.”
He was a farmer and large land-owner, owning all the land
from the village of Westborough to his house, two miles dis-
tant. It is remembered that General Putnam, on his way
to Cambridge in the Revolution, stopped at his house over
night, and the room he occupied is still pointed out, in the
same condition now that it was then, — the walls covered
with figures of birds and horses, painted black upon a white
ground, the birds as large as the horses.
Not only the father of Jonathan Fay, Captain Jonathan,
but his grandfather and his great-grandfather certainly, lived
in Westborough before him. His brother David succeeded
to the old farm, and his brother John was a revolutionary
pensioner and a farmer in good circumstances in Littleton.
Jonathan and Nahum were educated at Cambridge. An old
lady of Westborough still speaks of them as “ high bucks.”
Nahum graduated in 1790—the class of Josiah Quincy.
He was a physician of much repute, and practiced for a time
108 MEMOIR.
in Boston. He had fascinating manners, and was a famous
singer, and has often sung in the old church in this town.
He died early.
Jonathan Fay graduated in 1778. His most distinguished
classmate was Nathan Dane. He was a student at the time
the college was removed to Concord in 1775, and it was
thus that he became acquainted with his future wife, Lucy
Prescott. He married her December 6, 1776, before he
graduated, and contrary to the rules of the institution, and
the marriage was therefore kept secret until it could be
revealed with impunity. His eldest child, the late Judge
Fay, was born in the old Prescott house, the site of which
is now occupied by the house of John B. Moore, in 1778.
Mrs. Heywood, his eldest daughter, was born in West-
borough ; his other children were born in Concord, after
his final removal here, which occurred as soon as he had
completed his professional studies, which he pursued with
Mr. Hichborn, in Boston.
He first lived in the house where Mrs. Mary Heywood re-
sided at the time of her decease, and his office was first
there. About 1790 he removed to the house now occupied
by his only surviving child, Mrs. Abiel Heywood. His wife’s
father, Dr. Abel Prescott, gave this house to Mrs. Fay. It
had been “honest John Beaton’s ” house, whose widow Dr.
Prescott had married for his second wife. The doctor, at
the same time, removed to the next house below, on the
same street, which he had built, and where he died in 1805,
at the age of eighty-eight years.
At this period, Mr. Fay built the little ever-gveen office
that stood, until recently, a few rods north of his house, and
it was his office until his death. It was afterwards the tem-
porary sanctum of a then youthful and since distinguished
counselor, who seems to Have cultivated the muses in those
days, for the office has been celebrated in the following
couplets which he is remembered to have improvised when
called upon by an official for a description of his taxable
effects : —
FONATHAN FAY. 109
“Between ‘Elm Wood’ and ‘Button Row,’
A line of scraggy poplars grow ;
Behind those poplars may be seen
My worn-out office — painted green.”
“Elm Wood” and “ Button Row ” were the names by which
Mr. Fay’s and Mr. Reuben Brown’s estates were respec-
tively known. At a more recent period, Dr. Heywood
transacted much of 4zs multifarious business in the same
office.
When Mr.. Fay commenced practice in Concord, there was
no other lawyer in the town, and it had been in that deplor-
able condition since 1775, when Daniel Bliss, his immediate
predecessor in the profession here, having become infected
with toryism, found it prudent to leave so patriotic a local-
ity, and his estate was confiscated. Before Mr. Bliss, only
two lawyers are mentioned as in practice here, namely, John
Hoar and Peter Bulkley, son of the first minister. Mr. Fay
continued the only representative of his profession in town
for about ten years, after which John Merrick, William
Jones, Thomas Heald, John L. Tuttle, and Samuel Hoar,
opened offices prior to his death. Of these Jones and Heald
were his students, as was also Thomas O. Selfridge, who
shot Charles Austin, was defended by Samuel Dexter, and
acquitted. Mr. Fay was the last of the Concord lawyers
who wore “smail-clothes”’ and the queue.
He reached a very respectable rank, and had a good prac-
tice. He usually attended the courts in Worcester County
as well as Middlesex, and is said to have been styled “ the
honest lawyer.” Isaac Fiske, Esquire, says of him, that when
he came to the bar, which was about 1801, he was “county
attorney, and a leading and popular man at the bar and in
the county,” to whom, among others, he was ‘taught to look
up with professional awe and respect.”
He was a warm Federalist, but did not engage much in
the political excitement of the times. He represented the
town, however, in the legislature from 1792 to 1796. He
IIO MEMOIR.
was the first president of the Concord Fire Society, organ-
ized in 1794, and of the “ Charitable Library Society,” which
was formed in 1795, and afterwards, in 1821, merged in the
“Concord Social Library.’ Like his brother Nahum, he was
a fine singer, and led Dr. Ripley’s choir for many years. In
his religious sentiments he was of the most liberal school of
Unitarians, and in Azs day was called an Universalist.
At that period the lawyers used to board, during the ses-
sions of the courts in Concord, at Deacon Vose’s, and at Mr.
Hubbard’s (father of Ebe. Hubbard). Mr. Fay.was fond of
whist, and did not object to a social glass, and frequently, of
an evening, joined his brethren at one or the other of those
houses of resort. When he was not prepared “to tell a
story,” he could always “sing asong.” His son was his con-
temporary at the bar for some years, and on the occasion of
one of the social gatherings referred to, he astonished his
parent by suggesting that perhaps ‘ ‘Brother Fay” would
favor the company with a song.
His wife died greatly lamented by her husband, at the
comparatively early age of thirty-four, October 10, 1792. At
this time his children were at the “hospital,” which was in
the house now occupied by Augustus Tuttle, undergoing in-
oculation for the prevention of small-pox, and their mother’s
death was concealed from them, and her remains embalmed,
that they might see her once more before her interment. In
the interval, he built the tomb at the southwest corner of
the Hill Burying Ground, which was the first tomb built in
Concord.
Mrs. Fay is said to have been a woman of great beauty of
character and person. Her father, Dr. Abel, and her grand-
father, “ Major Jonathan Prescott, Esquire, M. D.,” whose
wife was Major Peter Bulkley’s only daughter, were physi-
cians of great eminence, and their practice extended through-
out the county. Dr. Abel Prescott’s first wife — the mother
of his children — was Abigail Brigham, and not Bugbee, as
stated in Mr. Shattuck’s “ History.”
FONATHAN FAY. III
Mr. Fay did not marry again. His daughter says of him
that he never spoke of his deceased wife without tears. He
continued to reside with his children for the remainder of
his life. He was an affectionate and beloved father, and
his house was one of the centres of social attraction in Con-
cord for many years. He was of attractive manners and per-
son, a little above the medium height, quite stout, and ‘‘ car-
ried his head high.”
He died of a disease of the liver, June 1, 1811, at the age
of fifty-seven years, leaving six children: Samuel Prescott
Phillips ; Lucy, who married Dr. Abiel Heywood ; Joanna
Phillips, who married Charles Parkman, of Westborough ;
Sophia, who married Joseph Barrett; Maria, who married
Daniel Denny, of Boston; and Abby Brigham, who married
Simeon Putnam, of Andover.
Fanuary 18, 1859.
112 MEMOIR.
MEMOIR OF JONAS HEYWOOD.
BY LORENZO EATON.
Jonas Heywood, the subject of this memoir, was great-
grandson of John Heywood, who came to Concord before
1650, and was one of the first settlers of the town. He was
grandson of Deacon John, Jr., and son of Samuel, who
married Elizabeth Hubbard in 1710, and was deacon, town
clerk, and otherwise distinguished as a good and useful cit-
izen. He not only filled the many offices conferred upon
him by the town with honor and fidelity, but he faithfully
fulfilled his duty to his country, in bringing up and sending
forth to the world a family of thirteen children, some of
whom distinguished themselves as men of character and in-
fluence, as good citizens, and as onest men.
Jonas, who was one of the sons of Samuel, was born in
Concord, August 21, 1721, at the old Heywood mansion,
west of the depot, which had borne the family name since the
first settlement of the town.
Of his early history I could learn but little. He worked
with his father in the summer upon the farm, and in the win-
ter learned of him the shoemaker’s trade. In those days it
was the custom for shoemakers to go from house to house
in the neighborhood, and also to go to the adjoining towns,
remaining at each house until they had made and repaired
shoes enough to last the family through the season. Jonas,
while an apprentice, was much pleased with these excur-
sions, and, as my informant says, used often to speak of the
glorious times he had with the girls. These excursions were
called ‘‘ whipping the cat,” and, in all probability, while the
old gent was “whipping the cat,” young Jonas was making
love to one Anna Prescott, to whom he was married by the’
FONAS HEYWOOD. 113
Rev. Dr. Bliss, September 13, 1753. They had five chil-
dren, — three sons and two daughters.
Jonas, like his father, was one.of the most prominent cit-
izens of the town. His character was irreproachable, and
he filled the various offices conferred on him with trust and
honor.
He held the office of town clerk for twelve years, and was
one of the selectmen quite a number of years. He was one
of a company of minute-men raised by the'town in 1774. He
also served with others on a committee of inspection, whose
duties were to see to the punctual observance of the articles
of association as agreed upon by the Continental Congress.
In March, 1775, he was one of the citizens with whom pro-
visions, gunpowder, etc., were stored.
On the 26th of April, 1775, the town assumed the author-
ity of an independent republic, and chose a committee, be-
fore whom all persons suspected of treason should be tried.
Mr. Heywood was chairman of that committee, and it was
before him that Dr. Lee was tried for treason and found
guilty; it being the opinion of the committee “that he be
confined to the farm his family now lives upon,” — the farm
now occupied by Samuel G. Wheeler, — “and if he should
presume to go beyond its bounds and be killed, his blood
shall be upon his own head.” It was told that, while he was
under this sentence, some of the citizens, in trying their
guns,. used to point them towards the farm, not caring if
they should hit the traitor. Mr. Heywood served upon this
committee from 1775 to 1783, after which there was no com-
mittee chosen.
Sixteen of the three hundred and eighty barrels of flour
sent to Concord by Colonel Lee were stored with Mr. Hey-
wood.
Jonas Heywood was one of the first members of the Social
Circle. At what time he joined does not appear by the rec-
ords, and he remained a member until his death, which oc-
curred July 28, 1808, aged eighty-seven years,
February, 1856.
114 MEMOIR.
MEMOIR OF JOSEPH HOSMER.
BY JOSEPHINE HOSMER.
Major Joseph Hosmer was born on the 7th of January,
1736. James Hosmer came to Concord in 1635. He built
a house on the land where Mrs. Damon’s house stands, and
a saw-mill near the mill-dam. His eldest son, James, was
Major Hosmer’s great-grandfather. An old deed gives him
the title of carpenter and architect. He must have learned
his trade in England, because he was married four years after
he came to Concord, October 13, 1638, to Miss Sarah White,
of London. Shewas a sister of Mrs. Rowlandson, wife of the,
first minister of Lancaster. Mrs. R. was taken prisoner by the
Indians. After a captivity of three years’ duration, she was
released, and came to Concord to visit her sister, Mrs. Hos-
mer. While here, she wrote the story of her captivity, which
was published. In 1800 Major Hosmer caused a second
edition of the little book to be printed, and distributed copies
among his friends and relatives. James Hosmer, the second,
lived just across the river from Mr. Derby’s. He was killed
at Sudbury, while fighting under Captain Wadsworth. He
and eight others were buried in one grave. Before he went
to Sudbury, he is supposed to have buried all his tools, and
they were never found afterward. He left a large tract of
land, which was equally divided between his two sons, James
and Thomas. James removed to Farmington, Connecticut.
He is supposed to have sold his inheritance to his cousin,
Stephen Hosmer, the ancestor of the other branch of the
Hosmers, who lived near Mr. Abel Hosmer’s. Major Hos-
mer’s grandfather, Thomas, married Hannah Hartwell, of
Lincoln, and built the house where Mr. Elijah Hosmer lived,
FOSEPH HOSMER. 115
who was the father of the two maiden ladies, Sally and Lydia.
When Thomas, his second son, was twenty-one, his father
gave him the farm and mill, now known as the Hayward
Place, near Mr. Damon’s factory. He lived, there a long
time, and kept bachelor’s hall, then married his third cousin,
Prudence Hosmer. Joseph, his eldest son, was born there.
When he was eight years old his father exchanged farms with
Mr. Hayward, and removed to a house standing where the
cottage now stands. He purchased, also, the farm belonging
to Joseph Shevally, a Frenchman, who married his cousin,
Sarah Hosmer. When Joseph was twenty-one, his father
divided his farm between his two sons, Joseph and Benjamin.
Joseph built the house in which Mrs. Cyrus Hosmer now
lives, when he was twenty-three years old. Robert Rosier, a
Frenchman, married Mary Shevally, and lived near the bridge.
He afterwards removed to Albany. He was a very excel-
lent cabinet maker, and Major Hosmer learned his trade
from him. Having finished his house, he commenced house-
keeping ; his apprentices boarded with him ; his sister Dinah
managed affairs in-doors. He was married, at the age of
twenty-five, on Christmas Eve, 1761, to Lucy Barnes, of
Marlboro’. Tradition says that he went to M. to take home
a load of furniture which had been made to the order of Mr.
Jonathan Barnes, a wealthy farmer, town clerk, town treas-
urer, representative to the general court, and altogether a
man of note. A: thunder shower came on, and when it had
passed over, Mr. Hosmer rose to go. ‘‘ Do not go to-night ;
please make him stay, father ; it is raining still, and Concord
woods are very dark.” So spoke Miss Lucy. He stayed,
and came again ; but when he asked for Lucy, the answer
came to this effect: ‘‘ Concord plains are sandy ; Concord
soil is poor; you have miserable farms there, and no fruit.
There is little hope that you will ever do better than your
father, for you have both farm and shop to attend to, and two
trades spoil one. Lucy shall marry her cousin John ; he owns
the best farm in Marlboro’, and you must marry a Concord
116 MEMOIR.
girl, who cannot tell good land from poor. As for Lucy, you
must forget her.” Two years passed away. Mr. Hosmer
went again to Marlboro’ with another load of furniture, —
this time for cousin John: Lucy refused John, and he mar-
ried another cousin. So Joseph married Lucy, and the month
of December that year was so pleasant that late flowers were
still in blossom on the fifteenth day of the month. From
that time until the breaking out of the Revolution he con-
tinued busily working at his trade and managing also a large
farm. Cherry and mahogany were the kinds of wood he
used, to judge from the receipts for furniture in his desk.
His wife must have received from her father’s estate a farm,
not long, I think, before the war commenced, which he had
the charge of for many years. He must also, I think, have
sold many cattle, from the fact that in Rutland, in New Ips-
wich, in Princeton, in Acton, he owned pastures.
But the time was coming when public duties were to claim
his attention. He made his maiden speech in the old church
a few weeks before the memorable roth of April. A con-
vention met at Concord, and Mr. Bliss made a very eloquent
speech, ridiculing the proceedings of the Sons of Liberty,
redolent of wit and pungent sarcasm. It is said to have
been so impressive, that there was perfect silence for a long
time after he ceased to speak. From the opposite corner a
man rose, plainly dressed in a suit of “butternut brown.”
He commenced slowly and hesitatingly, but in a few mo-
ments his timidity vanished, and, in the language of Shat-
tuck’s history, “he replied to Mr. Bliss in a strain of natural,
unaffected eloquence, for which he was ever afterward distin-
guished, which at once attracted public attention and intro-
duced him to public favor.” A Worcester lawyer, standing
near Mr. Bliss, saw that he frowned, bit his lip, pounded with
his boot-heel, and, in a word, showed marked discomposure.
“ Who is this man?” “Hosmer, a mechanic,” was the an-
swer. ‘Then how comes he to speak such pure English?”
“ Because he has an old mother who sits in the chimney
FOSEPH HOSMER. 117
corner and reads English poetry all the day long ; and I sup-
pose it is ‘like mother like son.’ He is the most dangerous
man in Concord. His influence over the young men is won-
derful, and where he leads they will be sure to follow.”
The 19th of April came; he acted that day as adjutant,.
and Lossing, in his “ Field Book of the Revolution,” says
he made alittle speech at the old North Bridge. While he
was absent, British soldiers visited his house, but did not
: discover any stores, although a quantity were hidden there.
Hanging on the wall was a little red morocco hat with a
black feather tipped with red. The soldiers thought it
had.a rebellious appearance, and voted to burn it, but the
mother pleaded that it belonged to little Cyrus, only ten
years old, and it was spared; but, after the soldiers were
gone, the mother missed her little son. His aunt and sis-
ter went in search of him ; they overtook him on his way to
town. He was bare-headed, and crying bitterly. He said he
knew, his uncle Ben was dead, and he was going up to the
bridge to see. He was brought home with difficulty, and
listened to the danger his hat had been in with indifference,
merely remarking that if uncle Ben was killed, he should
never wear any hat again. The shout of joy with which the
little fellow welcomed uncle Ben the next morning, on his
return from Charlestown, was long remembered in the fam-
ily. At the commencement of the war, Major Hosmer was
offered a colonel’s commission. He modestly refused it,
saying, he believed he could do the country more good by
working at home for the army than by going to the war.
The records at the State House show, it is said, how ear-
nest and indefatigable a worker he was. He was quarter-
master, and rode over the State to collect supplies. The
old desk contained receipts dated at the War Office, given to
Joseph Hosmer, collector of public stores, which, aside from
the date, might have been written yesterday. He was accus-
tomed to ride from town to town tocollect supplies, and often
made little speeches, and, as he brought the latest news from
118 MEMOIR.
the War Department, the people were always glad to hear
him. He is said to have made witty and humorous speeches ;
and, like President Lincoln, delighted in story-telling. He
was muster-master, and it seems to have been his duty to pay
bounties and collect recruits. He was the first captain of
the Concord Light Infantry. He was also agent of absen-
tees’ estates. He filled the post of collector of public sup-
plies without fee or reward, simply, as he said, because it
was somebody’s duty to do so, and he might as well as an-
other man.
The manner of collecting stores varied a little from the
custom of to-day. Old Mr. Barnes, of Berlin, a nephew of
Major Hosmer’s, told me, some fifteen years ago, that he re-
membered, when a child, to have been roused from sleep
by a tremendous knocking. His father called out, ‘ Who
is there?”” “Don’t you know me, uncle?” was the reply. It
was Cyrus Hosmer, a boy of fifteen, on his way to the Con-
necticut River towns, to tell them to hurry up supplies.
“What brings you here, child, at two in the morning?”
The answer came promptly, ‘Father is in Boston ; he sent
a special messenger up to mother to tell her to send’ me off.
It was eleven when he arrived, so I started by moonlight.”
The narrator went on to say it was acommon thing to be
roused in the middle of the night by Uncle Joseph, but Cyrus
was such a boy, we did not expect him.
, After the Revolution, the major was in public life for many
years. He was state representative five years, senator thir-
teen, and high sheriff fifteen. He retained his powers of
body and mind to a great age. His nephew came to Con-
cord last summer. He said that he remembered to have
seen him on horseback at Lunenburg when he was nearly
eighty years of age.
He loved to hear old soldiers talk about the war. Major
Paine kept the Middlesex Hotel. He had held a captain’s
commission, and commanded a company from Milton, was
at the battle of White Plains, at Monmouth, and at Morris-
FOSEPH HOSMER. 119
town during the hard winter. If any soldier strayed to Con-
cord, he was made quite welcome to all the Jarder and the
bar afforded. It was his custom to send for Major Hosmer
to come down and listen, and sometimes, if the stories were
very large, Dr. Ripley and Dr. Cuming came also. Major
Paine’s eldest daughter used to say, “‘ Father, don’t send for
Major Hosmer ; if you do, they will never go away.”
He possessed in a remarkable degree the power of attract-
ing all ages and classes, while his gentle dignity commanded
respect ; his sweetness of temper and urbanity of manner
won the affection of all around him. He had a sincere and
cheerful piety consonant to his character, and I believe the
last words he spoke were addressed to his beloved daughter-
in-law, whom he tenderly loved, “ Patty, surely goodness
and mercy have followed us all the days of our lives, and we
will dwell in the house of our God forever.” He died on
the r4th of January, 1821. The “ Columbian Centinel” of
that week said, “This venerable man, during the Jast fifty
years, has sustained some of the most important offices in
the State. He was exceeded in strength of mind by few, in
integrity by none.”
Dr. Ripley preached a funeral sermon ; it is in the house,
but I cannot find it. I remember that he compared him “to
David, who was a man after God’s own heart,” and “ to Cin-
cinnatus at the plow.” He spoke of him with much af-
fection, and I recollect to have heard Miss Mary Emer-
son say, “that he loved him as a brother,” and so “ full of
years and honors, he fell asleep and was gathered to his
fathers.”
The Hosmer family are not a migratory family. Major
Hosmer used to say, that there were Hosmers in Kent be-
fore the Conquest, and from Hockhurst, in Kent, they came
to Concord. The James, who came to Concord, married
Mary Willard, sister of Major Simon Willard; came with
him to Cambridge in 1632, from thence to Concord. Major
Willard came also from Kent.
November 9, 1869 .
120 MEMOIR.
MEMOIR OF THOMAS HUBBARD.
BY SAMUEL HOAR.
Thomas Hubbard was born in Concord on the 16th of
July, 1766. He was the son of Captain Thomas Hubbard,
who died on the rath of October, 1810, aged eighty years.
The latter was the son of Captain Joseph Hubbard, who died
on the 1oth of April, 1768, aged eighty years. Joseph was
the son of Jonathan Hubbard, who died 17th July, 1728,
aged seventy years. They were all natives of Concord, ex-
cepting Jonathan. When he or his ancestors came from
England has not been ascertained, but it is said that he was
in this town as early as 1680.
_ The subject of this memoir was born, and continued his
residence through life, on the farm now owned and occupied
by his son Cyrus Hubbard, and by his grandchildren. His
early life was occupied in a manner quite common to the
country boys of New England, in the performance of such
labor as was. within his capacity on the farm, excepting a
small part of the cold season, when he attended such schools
as the town then provided. The studies of the common
schools were then generally limited to reading, spelling, writ-
ing, and arithmetic. Either at these schools, or subse-
quently to leaving them, he acquired such a knowledge of
these branches of education as to enable him to perform
reputably his public and private duties. But he was never
satisfied with present attainments. Progress was his con-
stant aim and endeavor through life.
On the 28th of May, 1789, he was married to Rebecca
Wheeler, of Concord, who was the mother of all his children.
She died on the 26th of October, 1803, aged thirty-four.
On the 14th of June, 1804, he was married to Rebecca
THOMAS HUBBARD. 121
Prescott, of Concord, with whom he lived until his decease;
and who survived him several years.
The common occupation of Mr. Hubbard was farming.
In the pursuit of this business he was very industrious, and
managed his farm in a very exemplary manner. A maxim
often repeated by him was, “whatever is worth doing is
worth doing well.” This he made a-practical rule. He
often tried experiments in agriculture and in the use of new
implements. If the experiment or the implement failed to
answer his hopes, though it might have been expensive, he
said, “Well, it is better to use money so, than to spend it
for new rum.” His observance of order and method in his
business was very apparent in the neatness of his buildings
and farm, and in its results in affording him time, nearly
every day of his life after he became a man, for some read-
ing. He remarked that he considered it the duty of every
man to acquaint himself well with his own profession or
business, whatever it might be, and to learn faithfully the re-
ligious and moral rules and principles necessary as the guide
of life, if he cow/d learn nothing else. After this if he could
extend his inquiries further, he should do it. He kept, for
many years, a diary, in which he noted his business for the
day, deaths, state of the weather, and other remarkable
events. On Sundays he noted the name of the preacher at
his usual place of public worship, and his own attendance or
failure to attend the services. It is believed that he owned
the frst, and for many years the ov/y, barometer in Con-
cord.
He was always temperate in his habits, and was an early
and decided friend to the efforts made for a temperance re-
form, for many years before his death, wholly banishing in-
toxicating liquors as a beverage from his house and farm.
He was strongly attached to his home and to agricultural
pursuits. When called to the discharge of public duties he
commonly accepted the call for a time, if the duties were to
be performed in Concord, or in the immediate neighborhood ;
122 MEMOIR.
but seemed much more pleased to be released from public
duty than to be chosen or appointed to a public office. He
was one of the selectmen from 1801 to 1803, and was often on
important town committees. When the political parties in
Concord were nearly equally divided, the Federalists, to
which party he belonged, supposing that respect for his char-
acter was so general that he would receive more votes than
any other person whom they could designate as a candidate
for representative to the legislature from this town, solicited
him to permit them to vote for him. He, however, promptly
declined, saying that he should feel as much out of his ele
ment in the legislature as,a fish out of water. "
He made a public profession of the Christian religion, and
joined the church in Concord, under Dr. Ripley’s care, on
the 2oth of June, 1810. On the 30th of April, 1812, he was
chosen a deacon of the church, which office he accepted and
held until his death.
Profession and practice were as nearly coincident in Dea-
con Hubbard’as in almost any human‘ being. During his
whole life he as well exemplified the best traits in the Puri-
tan character, tempered but not adulterated by modern im-
provements, as could easily be found. His guileless conver-
sation seemed like bluntness ; seldom, if ever, offensive, but
often noticeable. The tinsel of fashion he did not assume,
yet was always ready to adopt a change; if on full examina-
tion a sufficient reason for the change was found. He was
habitually cheerful, fond of anecdote, and interested in what-
ever concerns the welfare: of human beings. Valuing prop-
erty highly, and economical in the use of it, one of his chief
pleasures seemed to be to relieve the needy and assist the
deserving. Though firmly attached to the doctrines of his
patticular denomination, he was very tolerant in his feelings
and conduct toward those whose speculations differed from
his own. Without brilliancy of genius, and with no preten-
sions to profound erudition, few men have better merited
the title of Christian philosopher.
THOMAS HUBBARD. 123
Deacon Hubbard died on the 18th of December, 1835, in
the seventieth year of his age, and with almost his last breath
commended his wife to the filial care of his oldest son. He
had six children, five of whom survived him.
December 19, 1854.
124 MEMOIR.
MEMOIR OF JOSEPH HUNT.
BY WILLIAM WHITING.
Dr. Joseph Hunt was born March 1, 1749. He was the
youngest son of Deacon Simon Hunt, of this town. He was
a graduate of Harvard University in 1770. He studied his
profession, I believe, with the celebrated Dr. Cuming, of
this town, after which he commenced the practice of medi-
cine in Dracut, in this county, and remained there until his
situation became somewhat uncomfortable, on account of an
unfortunate accident which happened to him, namely, being
caught in the act of robbing a grave of a dead body, for the
purpose of dissection. I am informed he was compelled, by
the friends of the deceased, publicly to reinter the body,
follow it as chief mourner to the grave, go down upon his
bended knees, and ask pardon of the relatives for his trans-
gression.
He afterwards removed to Concord, and kept the town
school for two and a half years, commencing in 1786.
He was president of the Fire Society between 1795 and
1800.
At the erection of the new school-house in 1799, the first
school committee was chosen, consisting of five members,
among whom we find the name of Dr. Hunt. On their rec-
ommendation the town adopted a uniform system of school
regulations, which are distinguished for enlightened views
of education, and which, by being generally followed since,
under some modifications, have rendered our schools among
our greatest blessings.
Dr. Hunt was celebrated for his excellent penmanship.
He was the teacher of the late Dr. Abiel Heywood, whose
FOSEPH HUNT. 125
writing is universally admired. He was the writer of the
Constitution of the Social Circle, of which, I believe, he was
one of the original members, and was the first secretary
chosen after the Circle was organized in its present form,
the record beginning the rst of December, 1795, and he
retained the office, I believe, for three years. He was for
several years secretary of the Massachusetts Medical So-
ciety.
He married. (I do not know the year) Lucy, the youngest
daughter of Thomas Whiting, Esq., of this town, by whom
he had three sons, Henry, Joseph, and Thomas.
Owing to ill health, he was obliged to quit the practice of
medicine, and opened an apothecary shop which afforded a
comfortable and genteel support as long as he lived. He
died May 27, 1812, in the sixty-third year of his age.
Dr. Hunt, when young, was like most other boys of his
age, full of roguish tricks ; and it may be well to give a spec.
imen of the kind of roguery to which I allude.
Once, when his parents were absent from home, he, with
his elder brothers, took a fancy to indulge in a feast of
poached eggs. They had the misfortune to melt the pewter
basin in which it was prepared. A sister, who was a spec-
tator, threatened to tell how and by whom it was done. The
brothers thought to deter her by threatening to put her in
the bacon basket, and to draw her up into the great kitchen
chimney, where the old gentleman used to smoke hams, unless
she would promise not to expose them ; but, nothing daunted,
she still persisted, and was drawn up as high as the pulleys
would allow, and after keeping her in that uncomfortable sit-
uation as long as they dared, they again inquired if she would
promise not to tell; she still refused to promise, and they
were obliged to let her down and abide the consequences ;
and from what we know of the ancient method of training up
children in the way they should go, we can readily imagine
what followed.
Dr. Hunt was personally known to the writer of this
126: MEMOIR.
memoir for quite a number of years before his death. He
was an upright man in all his dealings, exceedingly close and
exact, small in stature, and not gifted by nature with any ex-
traordinary abilities ; but what he ad possess he cultivated
to the best advantage, and was considered a good citizen, an
excellent husband, and a respectable man. :
His wife, whom he dearly loved, lived quite a number of
years after his death. She had the whole income of his
property, which was ample, for her support during her life-
time. She was a lady much beloved by all who enjoyed the
privilege of being intimately acquainted with her.
February 26, 1856.
DUNCAN INGRAHAM. 127
DUNCAN INGRAHAM.
BY JOSIAH BARTLETT, M. D.
The name of Duncan Ingraham stands second on the list
of original members of the Social Circle. How early he
came to Concord I have not been able tolearn. He was
then a widower, having a large family of sons and daugh-
ters.
Joseph, his eldest, went to the Northwest Coast, and
wrote an interesting journal. Duncan, Jr., was a sailor,
and died in the West Indies. Nathaniel lived a while in Wa-
tertown, and afterward removed to Charleston, S.C. A son
of his was the Captain Ingraham who not long since was so
much extolled for his gallant conduct in the case of Kosta,
to whom he insisted upon extending the right of an Ameri-
can citizen, and protecting him as such. So popular was
this measure, that even the working classes of England have
united to present to him a valuable chronometer. It bears
the following inscription: ‘‘ Presented to Capt. Ingraham,
of the U. S. Navy, by some thousands of the British work-
ing classes, for his noble conduct in rescuing Martin Kosta,
the Hungarian refugee, from the Austrian authorities, April,
1854.” One of the daughters married a Mr. Condy, an Epis-
copalian clergyman. Her oldest child was the wife of Jo.
Selfridge, who was tried for his life for killing young Austin,
in the street in Boston. Another daughter of Ingraham’s
married Fred. Geyer, an Englishman, a merchant in Boston,
who caused the imprisonment of the notorious Dr. Ezekiel
Brown, who by his loquacity and folly was the means of
breaking up the first Social Club. Brown had failed, and
was deeply indebted to Geyer. A daughter of Geyer was
128 MEMOIR.
married in England, and was the mother of Captain Marryat,
the novelist, who wrote one of his works at Bellows Falls,
while staying?at the house of one of the family, which is
still held by the Geyers.
Mr. Ingraham, for his second wife, married the widow of
Tilly Merrick, and lived in her house (now occupied by Mrs.
Phineas How) while she lived. He then removed to the one
now occupied by Francis Potter. For years before he had
been a sea captain, engaged in the Surinam trade, and was
also engaged in mercantile affairs in Boston, which consisted
in slave dealing, in part, at least. He spent some time in
France, and John Adams, in his Diary, speaks of him as his
associate in Paris. On coming to Concord he appears to
have relinquished business, having a competency. He was
intimate with the prominent political leaders of the vicinity,
yet from taste and early association he was inclined to tory-
ism, for his wife, in her diary, considers it a cause of humil-
iation that some evil-disposed persons should have hung
upon the back of their new chaise a sheep’s head and pluck,
as they were riding through the streets, as a mark of their
disapprobation of his political views. Also, Mr. Samuel
Hubbard related before his death that, together with twenty
or thirty other rogues, he, with tin pans and cracked instru-
ments, one evening honored Ingraham, who was entertaining
British officers at his house. These views gradually changed
as the hopes of the rebels brightened, for in a letter of Nathan
Bond, who was his clerk, to Tilly Merrick, the son of Ingra-
ham’s wife, dated Boston, April 21, 1782, he says: ‘Since
the capture of Cornwallis toryism has ended ; not one word
have I heard dropped from the mouth of man since; even
the old man (referring to D. I.) talks of the independence of
his country.” And in another letter of September 6, 1782,
speaking of the French men-of-war in Boston Harbor, and
the friendly intercourse subsisting between the inhabitants
and the French, says: “ The tories court their acquaintance,
DUNCAN INGRAHAM. 129
and, what is stranger still, the old man is this day gone on
board to eat soup and garlic.”
Mr. Ingraham’s life while here was by no means irre-
proachable. He affected state, and was fond of display, as
evinced in the richly cushioned and lined pew in the church,
which, though sadly dilapidated, may still be remembered by
our oldest members, Also, by his fondness for high com-
pany, entertaining distinguished guests, and never happier
than when Governor Hancock was his guest and occupied
his pew. His expensive suppers for a time suspended the
club, and came very near breaking it up entirely.
His speech was bold and peremptory, occasionally inter-
larded with the oaths of the sailor. On one occasion he was
called into court to testify as to the credibility of a witness
for truth and veracity. Others had shrunk from giving a de-
cided opinion, for fear of giving offense. On being ques-
tioned, he boldly answered, ‘that the man was the damndest
liar on God’s footstool.”
He was chosen representative for Concord from 1788 to
’g1, and acted on many important committees upon town af-
fairs. Among others, he carried the protest of the people of
Concord in the Shays’ affair to the governor, for his appro-
bation, on Sunday, September 10, 1786. On account of the
critical state of affairs the governor and council met on that
day. He left the club in 1795. His second wife having
died, he married for his third the widow of Dr. Tufts, of
Medford, and that year removed to her house, where he
died on August 9, 1811, aged eighty-eight years.
Cato was his slave. On his desiring to marry, his master
consented, on condition of his no longer depending upon him
for support, to which he agreed. In process of time Cato
goes to Medford, asking his master “when he is coming to
Concord, for he is out of meal, meat, and wood, and can
stand it no longer.” His master reminded him of his ayree-
ment. ‘I don't want to hear any more about that; I tell you
I am out of everything.’? Whether his wants were supplied I
9
130 MEMOIR.
know not. I find in Dr. Ripley’s record that Cato Ingraham
died of consumption, August 24, 1805, aged fifty-four years.}
Movember 20, 1857.
1 Andraxisse, an old Dutch commodore, died in Medford leaving fif-
teen or twenty Malay slaves. One of them, Caesar, was master of the
tailor’s trade, a great favorite with the Medford people, was sold to Na-
thaniel Ingraham and carried South. Six years afterwards, on coming
home to see his aged father, he brought Czsar with him, who, preferring
the freedom of the North over all the blessings he had enjoyed at the
South, thought best to escape. He was apprehended in Woburn, and,
closely buckled in a chaise, was carried on board ship in Boston Harbor.
On crossing the bridge in Medford Cesar roared lustily, and aroused
Wait, the blacksmith, who, seizing the horse by the head, doubling his
fist, sternly forbade Ingraham to carry a man from freedom to slavery.
In spite of this interruption he was carried on board. Wait, with others,
the most influential men in town, proceeded to the harbor and brought
Ceesar off in triumph. Redress by law was tried in vain; Cesar for
many years after was 9 tailor in Medford, and having changed his name
to Anderson, removed to Woburn, where he died.
ELNATHAN JONES. 131
MEMOIR OF ELNATHAN JONES.
BY DR. J. BARTLETT AND DEACON ELIJAH WOOD.
Elnathan Jones was one of the four recorded as belonging
to the first formation of the Circle, but on its reorganization
in 1794 he was no longer living. He was a merchant of ir-
reproachable character, given to hospitality, and addicted to
display. He built and lived in the house now occupied by
Mr. Prichard. His store was attached to the house, and
years afterwards was removed to the spot on which the town
house now stands. It now constitutes a part of the house
of Sheriff Keyes.
He had visited England, acquired property, and lived
here in considerable state. An anecdote is related of him
that, like most rich men, he bitterly complained of his taxes
before the board of assessors. One of them in pity re-
marked, “Mr. Jones is rather poor; suppose we in part
abate them?” He quickly resented it, remarking, “ Not so
damned poor either.”
He married the sister of Deacon Minot, who, after his
death, was again married to Mr. Field, of Enfield. He had
seven children, none of them remaining in Concord. He
was town treasurer from 1786 to’91. His taste for display
led him to compete with Duncan Ingraham, who had the
same passion, in giving expensive suppers, which resulted in
the temporary breaking up of the Circle. He died of paral-
ysis on the 27th of February, 1793, aged fifty-six years, bear-
ing the character of a respectable gentleman.
October, 1860.
132 MEMOIR.
MEMOIR OF EPHRAIM JONES.
BY DR. JOSIAH BARTLETT AND DEACON ELIJAH WOOD.
Mr. Ephraim Jones was a member of the club on its reor-
ganization in 1794. He was the son of Captain Ephraim
Jones, who kept the tavern afterwards designated as the
Bigelow tavern, and had the care of the jail near by. On
the 19th of April, 1775, knowing that Henry Gardner, Esq.,
boarded in this tavern during the session of Congress, and
had left in Jones’s custody a trunk containing money and
important papers, the British caused the arrest of Captain
Jones, and had him placed under a guard of five men, their
bayonets fixed and pointing towards him. After being de-
layed a short time, he was released to furnish refreshment at
his bar. By a stratagem the trunk was kept from the sol-
diers. His son, Ephraim, Jr., followed his father’s voca-
tion, besides keeping a store quite near the house, which
was afterward kept by Phineas How. He married Susan
Phillips of the Hayden place in Lincoln.
His wife was a woman of great energy of character, and
was the head of the house. They had but one child, Susan,
who is now the wife of James Dalton, of Boston.
Mr. Jones was a quiet, unobtrusive man, possessing but
little energy, never successful, but always respectable. He
left the Circle in 1805. About this time he removed to Bos-
ton, and kept a boarding-house in Pearl Street, in the house
of Josiah Quincy. Here, for a time, he did better, but his
wife died, he became discouraged, and at last, about 1840,
died in the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
October, 1860.
SAMUEL ONES. 133
MEMOIR OF SAMUEL JONES.
BY DR. JOSIAH BARTLETT AND DEACON ELIJAH WOOD.
Captain Samuel Jones was a member of the Circle on its
reorganization in 1794. He was a blacksmith, and lived
in the house opposite Rev. Mr. Frost’s. His shop was
close by, between the two beautiful trees on Mr. Cheney’s
land ; the remains of his cinders lie there still. He was a
respectable gentleman, possessing the esteem of all. He
married the sister of Ephraim Jones, who, after his death,
became the wife of Colonel Roger Brown. Mr. Jones left
one only son, who, after graduating at Harvard in 1793, mar-
ried the daughter of Reuben Brown, and removed to Maine.
He became quite distinguished, being clerk of the courts in
Somerset County, and a brigadier-general in the militia of
the State. He died at Norridgewock, January 10, 1813,
and was brought to Concord for burial.
Mr. Jones was one day applied to by a traveler for work.
“You seem to be quite lame?” “Yes,” says the man,
“T?ve had a stone in the heel of my shoe ever since morn-
ing, and I can hardly walk now.” “You may go,” said
Jones ; “you won’t answer for me.”
He had a woman living with him who always refused a
drink of the toddy which he mixed twice a day. At one
time he had a quantity of cherries, and bought five gal-
lons of spirit to make cherry rum. During the winter he
invited his friends to taste it. He put a spile in the cen-
tre; it would not run. He tried again lower down, and
with all his efforts could get but just enough to give them a
drink apiece. He suspected foul play by the woman, and
134 MEMOIR.
soon became satisfied of the fact, and he vowed that from
that time to the day of his death he would never trust any
one who would not drink his toddy whenever it was mixed.
Mr. Jones was town treasurer from 1796 to1810. Hedied
May 6, 1812, of a fever, aged seventy-two years.
October, 1860.
FONAS LEE. 135
MEMOIR OF JONAS LEE.
BY JOHN S, KEYES.
Jonas Lee, one of the earliest members of the Circle, was
born October 16, 1745, on the Lee farm (so called) in Con-
cord, in the old house, which was built in 1639, probably the
first on the west bank of the river. He was the second son
of Dr. Joseph Lee and Ruth (Jones) Lee, who had seven
children, three of whom graduated at Harvard College. Dr.
Lee was a man of property and consideration until the Rev-
olution broke out, when he espoused the cause of the King.
His family had been prominent in town many years, and he
had possessed great influence, till he ruined himself by his
toryism. The Committee of Safety, out of which this Circle
is said to have originated, did not consider it safe to allow
such a man as Dr. Lee to be at large, and he was confined
by their order to the bounds of his farm, for more than a
year after the war began. This confinement proved his
safety, as he was so unpopular that his life would have been
in danger if he had left home. Indeed, the bullet holes in
the door casings of the old mansion were said to have been
made by the firing at the doctor when he had shown himself
to some excited patriot on the way from ‘‘training,” but
whose aim was not so deadly as his intent. But if the father
sided with the king, the son took the part of the rebels, and
loved his country more than king or sire.
Jonas was as warmly a friend to liberty as his father to
the crown, and had influence enough in the councils of
the whigs to save him from outrage, and protect his per-
son and property. Whether Jonas was in arms at the
North Bridge, April 19, 1775, I have not ascertained ; but
136 ' MEMOIR.
from his age, pursuits, and active sympathy with the cause,
it is probable that he belonged to one of the compa-
nies of minute-men. He was brought up as a farmer, and
followed that occupation all his life. After the war he had
considerable share in public affairs. He was a delegate
to a county convention in 1786 to consult about prices cur-
rent, and in 1787 he was on a committee of the town to pre-
pare instructions to the representative, as was then very
much the fashion of the day. He never held any of the
more prominent town offices, except representative, to which
position he was three times elected, in 1806, 1808, and 1814.
Judging from this and other facts in his life, he was not a
man of much power, though he possessed considerable per-
sonal popularity. In the close contests between the federal-
ists and democrats, during the war of 1812, he was a leader
of the democratic party in the, town, and to this owed his
last election to the House of Representatives. He was fre-
quently defeated as a candidate for the same place, and with
Tilly Merrick, Esq., used to lead off the political parties
whenever there was a poll of the house at town meetings.
These meetings were held in the old court-house, and the
democrats, headed by Jonas Lee, and the federalists by Tilly
Merrick, would march out in single file and parallel columns,
extending across the street, when they had, after a hot fight,
come to a division. So equally balanced were the two par-
ties at that time, that first one and then the other would be
successful by a single vote.
But if Mr, Lee never accomplished much in the political
world or public affairs, he was by no means a cipher in fam-
ily and social matters. He was married not less than three
times, and, perhaps, four. Widow Cordis, Widow Abbott,
and Widow Colburn, successively passed under his hands,
and the last survived him. He seems to have been a soft-
hearted, quick-tempered, nervous man; would swear when
vexed, and, in his later years, had many a pretty quarrel with
his last wife. Some of the stories still current of her shrew-
FONAS LEE, 137
ishness and his petulance are very amusing. One of these
is to the effect, that, when building the east addition to his
house, Mr. Lee and his wife differed as to the place where
the chimney should stand. He directed the mason to build
it in the side, she in the corner, of the room. They argued,
scolded, and raved about it till the mason got out of pa-
tience, and began laying the bricks as Mr. Lee directed.
Mrs. Lee started up and kicked over the bricks as fast as
laid. The mason kept on laying, the woman kicking, and
Jonas swearing, till all were exhausted. The mason picked
up his tools and left. Jonas took up his wife, and carried
her off in hysterics, and where and how that chimney was
built my informant did not know, — but there is one stand-
ing in the east room of the house at this date.
This was the house under the hill, now owned and occu-
pied by Charles B. Davis, and Mr. Lee, being a man of
considerable property, lived well, and in good style. He
had several children by his wife, Mrs. Cordis ; a son, Samuel
Cordis Lee, and several daughters, of whom but one lived
to be married to Nathaniel Monroe, of Baltimore. Socially
disposed, Mr. Lee was always an active member of the Cir-
cle, and his name appears more than once upon the records.
He was a great talker, and though impulsive to a fault,
had judgment and discretion beyond what is usually found
in such men. Somewhat wild in his youth, in the laxity of
morals and principles that the Revolutionary war engen-
dered, he sobered down sufficiently in after life to make a
respectable, clever man, of whom this is an imperfect sketch.
He died at Ashby, April 2, 1819.
March 17, 1857.
138 MEMOIR.
MEMOIR OF PETER WHEELER.
BY CYRUS STOW.
Peter Wheeler was born April 24, 1755, and was the son
of Timothy, commonly called “Pond Tim,” and May, his
wife. His father lived in the house now owned by Nathan
B. Stow, which has been since enlarged and altered. “ Pond
Tim” was a farmer and miller, and is noted in history for
the adroit manner in which he succeeded in saving from de-
struction a part of the public stores in this town on the 19th
of April, 1775. See Shattuck’s “ History of Concord,” page
107. He died in 1796, leaving a handsome estate to his son.
Peter Wheeler married Phebe Brooks, of Lincoln, and
when first married, lived in the house, then new, which is
now owned by Cyrus Stow, and which has since been re-
modeled. After his father’s death he went back to the old
house.
In person Mr. Wheeler was of middle size and of light
complexion, usually appearing as if in deep study, but at
times conversing freely on business matters, his plans, and
speculations ; he often indulged in humorous remarks, had
a visionary turn of mind, was always ready for any new pro-
ject, and believed that everything was foreordained as to the
concerns of men, some being born to grow rich and pros-
per, while others were to struggle in vain against poverty.
In the early part of his career he assisted in establishing
many persons in trade, and in this way became connected
with a large number of stores in various parts of the country.
For several years, toward the close of his life, he owned some
three hundred acres of land in Concord and Lincoln, kept
a store and tavern, carried on the butchering business, bar-
PETER WHEELER. 139
reled large quantities of beef and pork, manufactured soap
and candles, employed agents to purchase cattle and swine,
and, in addition, carried on his farm. In this way he em-
ployed a large number of hands, butchering, packing, mak-
ing soap and candles, besides paying out a considerable
amount to the farmers for transporting his eet and pork
to Boston, and fetching back salt.
The men in his employ were of every shade of character,
good, bad, and indifferent. Among them was one Nathan
Barnes, who came from Vermont with a drover. When they
arrived in this town Mr. Wheeler bought the whole drove of
cattle, and hired Barnes. He was a profane, uncouth, disa-
greeable fellow, and was employed chiefly in collecting
grease and ashes. He used to go about with his wagon
dressed in jacket and trousers of sheep-skin, and from
his strange appearance and coarse manners went by the
name of “Peter Wheeler’s devil,” a title in which he took
considerable pride, and to which he did fair credit. He
came-back to Concord a few years ago, and claimed support
from the town, stating that he has lived here some ten or
twelve years. It did not appear that he had ever been taxed
here but for four years, and being told that he had no settle-
ment in Concord, he exclaimed, “ Where am I to go?” Be-
ing furnished with a few dollars he took the railroad cars,
and has never been heard of since, though there can be little
doubt of the place of his ultimate destination.
Probably no man ever lived in Concord who carried on
such a multiplicity of business as Peter Wheeler, but owing
to rash adventures, the embargo, and placing too much con-
fidence in others, he became embarrassed with debts. He, it is
said, at one time opened a flue, communicating from a smal]
box in the bar-room to the outside of the house, in which he
directed the officers to drop any writs they might have against
him ; and being once confined to the jail limits, extending
round the then mill-pond, he could just go to the front win-
dows of his house, where he would converse with his wife,
140 MEMOIR.
and give directions to his men about their work. This was a
few years previous to his death. When his affairs were most
embarrassed, and an accumulation of debts ;pressed upon
him, he still maintained his cheerful spirits, and never de-
sponded of retrieving his fortunes. This, however, was not
his destiny, as has been already stated.
Peter’s father met at one time with quite a number of
losses, and, among others, that of a cow, which he had let
out toone E. M—~—, a poor, dissolute fellow, who, being
short of funds, sold her. When “ Pond Tim ” heard of this,
and found it was true, he exclaimed to his son, ‘ Peter, go
and get a gallon of rum, that we may enjoy ourselves while
it lasts, for the property is all going to destruction.”
A good many anecdotes are told of Peter, some of which
are amusing, and perhaps are worth repeating. Soon after
the commencement of his pecuniary difficulties, two of the
lawyers then in town, John L, Tuttle and Thomas Heald,
who were not men of great means themselves, used to buy
up Peter’s notes at a,discount on speculation, and then pro-
ceed to collect them. They found this for a while a profit
able business, and monopolized the market. After a while,
however, as his affairs grew worse his notes grew gradually
larger and Messrs. T. & H., his considerate neighbors,
lacked the means to purchase them. This was a great grat-
ification to Peter, and he used to take considerable pride
and comfort in the fact, that his notes had become so large
that the lawyers could n’t buy them up.
In commenting once on the faculty some men had of ac-
cumulating property, he wound up by declaring that he verily
believed Jonathan Davis could live on arock in the middle
of the ocean, and make money there. When asked how, he
said, ‘‘ By drilling out whetstones and collecting moss!”
Mr. Wheeler once had a most ferocious bull to kill. He and
his men succeeded with some difficulty in getting the animal
into his slaughter-house. They were afraid, however, to go
in and encounter his.fury, and, while outside conferring upon
PETER WHEELER. I4I
the safest mode of proceeding, Brister Freeman, the celebrated
negro, happened along, Wheeler, giving his men the wink,
inquired very affectionately after Brister’s health, and told
him if he would go into the slaughter-house and get an axe,
he should have a little job todo. Brister never suspected
mischief, at once opened the door and walked in, when it was
quietly shut upon him, and the appalled negro found himself
face to face with the enraged bull. It was already a ‘“‘case of
fight or die,’’ and after sundry minuets about the house, the
celerity of which would have established even a French danc-
ing-master, Brister fortunately spied the axe he had been sent
in for, and, seizing it, commenced belaboring his adversary,
giving him a blow here and there as he had opportunity. All
this while stood Peter and his men watching through the dry
knot-holes the valiant exploits of Brister, and cheering him
on with the most encouraging roars of laughter. Fortune at
length decided in favor of the negro; he laid the bull dead
upon the floor, and casting down his weapon of fight, came
forth unharmed. But imagine the amazement of his tor-
mentors when at length he emerged, no longer the dim, som-
bre negro he was when he entered, but literally white with
terror, and what was once his wool, standing up straight like
so many pokers, they could hardly persuade themselves to
believe it was Brister; but without waiting for them to iden-
tify him, or receive their congratulations for the notable
manner in which he had sustained himself, the affrighted and
indignant negro turned his back upon them and departed.
Mr. Wheeler was a sergeant in a volunteer company of
sixty-three men in 1777, who enlisted from Concord, Lin-
coln, and Acton, and were commanded by John Buttrick, of
Concord. ‘They marched to Saratoga, and were present at
the capitulation of Burgoyne and his army.
As has been already mentioned, Mr. Wheeler married
Phebe Brooks, of Lincoln. They had four children, namely,
Peter, who was born September 26, 1789 ; Phebe, born July
26, 1792 ; William, born January 1, 1795 ; and Timothy Au-
142 MEMOIR.
gustus, born April 1, 1806. The eldest son, Peter, died of
a fever while at sea, September 22, 1811, aged twenty-two
years ; William died a few years after his father ; Timothy
Augustus died at Fitchburg, of a fever, about the year 1846 ;
Phebe, who was never married, died in 1849.
Although Mr. Wheeler died insolvent, his widow held
dower in his large real estate, and was thus left comfortably
off through life. She was a most worthy woman, and her
children all maintained most excellent characters. She
moved from Concord to Fitchburg with her daughter in 1841,
and lived there with her son Timothy Augustus. The deaths
of her children have been already given. Mr. Wheeler him-
self died May 12, 1813, from a fallfrom a cart. Mrs. Wheeler
died in 1847; and there is now but one descendant living,
Charles, a son of Timothy Augustus, who is some twelve or
fifteen years of age, and resides with his mother at Fitch-
burg.
Mr. Wheeler joined the Social Circle in 1794, and re-
mained a member till death, He was a good townsman and
neighbor, and an honest man.
February, 1857.
FOHN WHITE. 143
MEMOIR OF JOHN WHITE.
BY DANIEL SHATTUCK,
John White was born in Acton, January 23, 1749. He
was the sixth son of Deacon Mark White, who had by his
first wife eight children, and ten by his second wife. He
was married, November 11, 1778, to Esther Kettell, of Charles-
town, by whom he had two children, to wit, Betsey Vose, born
June 21,1784, who was married to Rev. Joseph Chickering,
of Woburn, the father of Rev. John W. Chickering, now a
distinguished clergyman of Portland. His only son John
was born December 2, 1787, graduated at Cambridge in
1805, studied with his brother-in-law, Mr. Chickering, a short
time, and finished his theological studies at Cambridge, after
which he was settled in Dedham, April 20, 1814, where he
was highly esteemed for his many Christian virtues. After
the decease of his first wife, Deacon White married Deborah,
widow of Caleb Hayward, of Weymouth, and daughter of
James White, of the same town.
He was one of the earliest members of the Social Circle,
was a constant attendant at its meetings, and took a lively
interest in all matters for the promotion of the civil, moral,
and religious welfare of the Gommunity. In his early years
he was a painter, but about the year 1773 he began trade in
a building which stood near the present store of Jonathan
Hildreth. About 1780 he bought what had been used as a
government store, fronting the square, which was forty feet
long, twenty-four wide, and one story high, and heavily tim-
bered, to which he added a second story, and fitted it for
a store; he soon afterwards erected another westerly of this,
of the same length and height, making one building eighty
144 MEMOIR.
feet in length. The new part was finished as a dwelling-
house, and was occupied by him until his death.
He was a man of peace; he believed wars to be a great
calamity, and that they were never justified but by extreme
necessity, which, it seemed to him, had come to pass in the
war of the Revolution. In this war he took a part, was at
Concord fight, and an officer at the taking of Burgoyne, 1777.
Soon after this he left the army. The life of a soldier was
not congenial with his disposition nor agreeable to his taste.
In speaking of the incidents of war, he said, though he dis-
charged his musket many times at the Concord fight, and at
the capture of Burgoyne, he hoped he had killed none of
the enemy.
From 1780 to 1790 trade was uncertain and often unprofit-
able. Those of the present day can hardly realize the diffi-
culties of business of all kinds during this period. After the
colonies had achieved their independence, there was scarcely
anything that could be used as a currency. Silver and gold
were seen only to be hoarded away; to be kept, not to be
used. Business must be done, if done at all, by bartering one
article for another. ‘There were thirteen distinct independent
sovereignties, each one making laws for itself, with little re-
gard for the interest of other states, often manifesting jeal-
ousy rather than kind feelings ; each state levied duties on
foreign imports for itself. Massachusetts had poured out
her blood and her wealth like water in that severe contest,
and came forth at its close exhausted. She was compelled
to levy high duties on foreign’ imports. Rhode Island lev-
ied scarcely any duties. She did not want them to pay her
debts, and so she went for free trade, —the consequence
was, that Newport became the chief mart of foreign com-
merce. In 1787 large warehouses might there be seen filled
with goods from London, Paris, Berlin, St. Petersburg, and
the West Indies. Traders from all parts of the country
went there to make their purchases. Deacon White made
journeys there for that purpose, — a journey then deemed as
¥OHN WHITE, 145
great as it is at this day to visit Chicago. The writer of this
memoir has often heard himi describe those perilous adven-
tures.
But in 1790 a happy change appeared. The Constitution
had been adopted, — duties were uniform in all the States, —
enterprise started into new life, and with it credit and confi-
dence: Washington was President. Fron that day the aspi-
rations of John Adams were realized, — we had a country,
and that a free country / Soon after this the French Revolu-
tion broke forth, which soon involved all Europe and threat-
ened the United States also ; but by the wise and far-seeing
policy of Washington, who declared the neutrality of this
country in European wars, we became the carriers of the
commerce of the world. Our products were in great demand,
all branches of business were prosperous,-and America grew
rich, whilst Europe was devastated by war. There has been,
perhaps, no period since the nation existed, considering its
population, when so much wealth was accumulated as during
the twenty years beginning 1790. It was during this period
that Deacon White made business profitable. He had an
extensive trade from towns in New Hampshire and Vermont.
His store was widely known, and all who came to trade with
him felt great confidence in his integrity and fair dealing, and
thus his business was extended. But even he did not escape
the slang of the envious. He was charged with selling spirit
so weak that it would not run down hill; but being a temper-
ate man, he did not taste of those articles often enough to be
able to discern their true qualities. Again, he was charged
with selling poor gunpowder. As an instance of this, they
asserted that when John Thoreau was his clerk, he accident-
ally set a cask of gunpowder on fire, and though immediate
and active means were used to extinguish it, more than half
of it was burned before the fire was put out.
Deacon White was not a well-educated merchant, nor did
he possess the skill which would insure success among strong
competition ; but in those times he need only purchase his
10
146 MEMOIR.
goods with ordinary care, mark them at the desired profits,
and the sales would assuredly be made. After the year 1803,
his business fell off to some extent. He had strong compet-
itors, such as Charles Hammond, Richardson & Wheeler,
and afterwards J. & J. H. Davis, and others, whose activity,
skill, and vigor were more than a match for his steady habits.
Business continued rather unprofitable for some years, during
the non-intercourse and embargo, until 1812, when he ad-
vertised his stock for sale, and the store to let. In Novem-
ber of that year he sold out all his goods to two young men,
for so many thousand dollars, without even taking an inven-
tory of them. If peace had soon followed, it would have
been a bad bargain; but as war was soon after declared, it
proved to be a profitable purchase for the young men. The
senior partner of Hemmenway & Shattuck died in 1816, and
in 1817 Deacon White became concerned in business with
the junior partner of the late firm. This continued till 1821,
when he sold his interest to his partner, and retired ever after
from active life.
Deacon White, in his political opinions, was a Federalist.
He took the ‘ Columbian Centinel.” He was not an office-
seeker ; he felt an interest in political matters rather for the
purpose of promoting the election of good men than for any
selfish purpose. In 1812 the Federalists and Republicans
were so nearly balanced that Deacon White and Benjamin
Prescott were elected representatives to the General Court by
one vote each. This was deemed very democratic, as each
party was thus fairly represented according to numbers.
His religious opinions inclined to the Calvinistic faith
rather than the Unitarian, the faith of Rev. Dr. Ripley; yet
no alienation existed between them until about the year 1826.
It had been the policy of the Orthodox sect, for a few years
previous to this period, to take possession of the old churches,
if possible ; if not, to divide and form new societies, and to
sever all connection with Christians professing the faith of
Channing, Worcester, and Ware. For many years New Eng-
JOHN WHITE. 147
land was rent asunder, and weak societies sprang up all
over the country from this cause. It was hoped that Con-
cord might be exempt from this contagion, because from the
days of Bulkley (save for a short time) we had lived in har-
mony, all attending the same church, and all contented with
one society and one ministry. But we were not exempt. In
1826 John Vose, with about twenty others, seceded and
formed a new church. The ties of affection and friendship
between himself and Dr. Ripley and others were too strong
to be easily severed. Deacon White was not willing then to
join the seceders, but no efforts were wanting to induce him
to do so, and the object was effected in 1827, when he re-
signed the office of deacon, to which he was chosen in 1784,
and which he had filled with so much propriety for over forty
years ; he was dismissed from the church at his own request.
Having paid over to his successor the church fund, of which
he had been trustee, the church, on the 5th March, 1827,
passed a unanimous vote of thanks for his long and faithful
services as deacon and trustee.
He was a strict observer, of the Sabbath. About the year
1826, the clergy, and many of the laity believed that the
Sabbath was not observed as it ought to be. After consul-
tation, it was agreed that measures should be used to pre-
vent traveling on that day, except in cases of necessity. It
was further provided that persons should be stationed on the
different roads to prevent unnecessary traveling. It became
Deacon White’s duty to guard the road leading over the
causeway. On a bright May morning, as the last bell was
ringing, he saw, opposite the Masonic Hall, a man dressed
- in a clean white frock, driving a team of four horses, with a
heavy laden wagon. He went directly towards him and said,
“My friend, you are transgressing ; you profane the Sabbath
by thus driving your team: you must stop.” ‘ Why, sir,”
said the man, “I have now been absent from my house in
Vermont many days. I started yesterday morning on my re-
turn, and I cannot well afford to stay idle at a public house on
148 MEMOIR.
such a fine day as this; and, besides, I intend to pass on
peaceably, and do nothing to disturb others, and I hope you
will permit me to pursue my journey.” ‘No,’ said the dea-
con, “you.must not proceed!” The teamster then made
fast his horses to the post near where they stood. Whilst he
was doing this, Deacon White and wife had left their house
for the church ; both dressed well. He always regarded neat-
ness in dress as a duty. The teamster hastened his walk and
overtook them at the town pump, and said he would take a
seat with them in their pew. How well this was relished by
Deacon W. no one knew, but in he went and sat down,—
white frock with the finest cloth and the best Florence silk.
After the forenoon service, he accompanied them quite home,
and said he thought he would dine with them. Deacon
White always had a good dinner on Sunday. After dinner
the afternoon service was attended like the forenoon. The
teamster invited himself to tea, the poor horses during this
time busily kicking at flies. It was asserted that the deacon
watched the declining sun with some impatience, and when
it was hid just behind Lee’s Hill, he pulled up his dickey,
as was his custom on important occasions, and said, ‘“ Mr.
What ’s natne, you may go now, sir,” and Mr. What’s name
departed, thinking that after all the deacon had the worst of
it. The horses might have been of a different opinion.
After Deacon White’s marriage to his second wife, Mrs.
Hayward, of Braintree, her two sons, Caleb and Ebenezer,
passed much time with their mother in Concord. They were
at that time aged fourteen and eighteen years, and were in
the main very clever young men, but full of all manner of
roguery. It so happened that the Deacon and Mrs. White
left home for a visit of several days, leaving the two young
men to amuse themselves as they might. Among other
means of diversion they had much to say to Poll parrot. This
was a singular bird. She had a wonderful power of imitating
sounds: she would imitate the teamster with his oxen, the
milkman’s whistle, and the fishman’s horn; the sick man’s
FYOHN WHITE. 149
cough and the school-boy’s laugh ; the birds on the trees and
the poultry in the yard ; she would crow with any cock, and
cluck with any hen; all considerate bipeds of this class would
give it up in despair after the first trial The young men
taught Poll certain parts of speech she had not yet learned,
such as some new modes of address, and certain forms of sal-
utation, which, though they might be tolerable English, were
not fit to be uttered before ears refined. When at length the
deacon and his lady returned, they were received by all the
family most affectionately. Congratulations and kisses were
abundant, after which inquiries were made for Poll. Where
is Poll? She hung in the lilac in the front yard. Out the
deacon goes and says, “Pretty Poll, how do you do?”
“ Hallo, damme, old fellow, how do you do? ha, ha!” says
Poll. “Tut, tut,” says Deacon White. “Tut, tut, too,
damme, old fellow! ha, ha!” says Poll. The deacon, find-
ing Poll a hard case, left her, to seek after the culprits, and
he knew where to look for them. He called up the two
young men, and charged them with having tampered with
Poll’s moral character. They did not wholly deny the charge,
but said, by way of extenuation, that they had only been
teaching Poll how to articulate. ‘‘ Young gentlemen,” said
the deacon, with a half-suppressed smile, “I will dispense
with all your teachings in future on articulation, and hope I
shall hear no more of it.” One other instance of Poll’s power
of imitation may be related. On a fair June morning when
Poll hung in the lilac bush, and was unusually cheerful, Cap-
tain Charles Miles, who supplied the village with meat, drove
up his cart in front of the store, leaving his horse loose, as
was his custom, and went into the house to inquire if they
wanted anything that day. Whether he stopped to chat with
the deacon, the housemaid, or some other person, is unknown,
but he stayed longer than usual; at any rate Poll thought
he was gone quite long enough, so she gave his word and
his whistle exactly ; the horse started and made directly for
the tavern, which was then the centre of gravity, as it has
150 MEMOIR.
often been since. As Poll urged him on with loud shouts,
when he reached the tavern he had acquired great speed,
and, as he turned the corner, the axle of the cart came in
contact with the stone post, and the whole was instantly
upset, and the meat scattered; at that very moment Poll, in
the most unfeeling manner, set up a boisterous laugh. Tom
Heald declared that there had not been such a fall in mutton
and tripe in the memory of the oldest inhabitant. It would
have been ruinous to Captain Miles, but that on the follow-
ing morning prices quietly resumed their old standard, only
that purchasers demanded a small allowance for mud and
dirt, which was readily granted.
Deacon White was fond of children— would inquire the
names of those he did not remember, and say, Be good boys,
go to school, and mind your mother, and, as they went away,
give them little books, of which he always kept a supply.
Children would not let New Year’s Day pass without going
to see Deacon White. Through the entire day might be
heard, “ Deacon, I wish you a happy New Year,” and they
all had something for their kind wishes. Sometimes the wish
might not have been entirely disinterested, — the mother
might have given the lesson, as thus, “ Deacon, I wish you a
happy New Year, and mother says I may take a primer, and
the rest in sugar,” and the little urchin had both.
He was kind, charitable, and benevolent, —the poor and
destitute never applied in vain. He had kind words for the
afflicted, and those kind words were remembered long after
mere acts of charity were forgotten. His deeds of charity
were not like the broad river, to be seen by all who passed
by, but more like the meadow brook, flowing, still constant,
clear, and almost unseen, but, as it ripples, sparkling over
the pebbles below.
He was active in promoting the welfare of the church, the
religious society, and the moral and civil improvement of the
community.
He was a willing contributor to the missionary, Bible,
' FOHN WHITE. I51
peace, education, and other societies ; was a cordial friend
to the clergy ; to his house they were always welcome. Be-
tween himself and the lamented Dr. Ripley there had always
existed the most intimate and friendly relations, until the
formation of the Second Religious Society, which has been
before alluded to; and when it was known to the doctor that
Deacon White had nearly made up his mind to join it, he was
grieved, but still hoped by argument and expostulation to
prevent it. But it was too late! The influences brought to
bear upon him were not to be overcome. The loss of such
aman to Dr. Ripley and the church was severely felt ; but
to the new society he was a great acquisition, to which, dur-
ing the few years he lived after he joined it, he was a liberal
contributor, and at his death he left a legacy for its support.
His conversation and manners were, though more serious
than cheerful, always courteous and instructive. No one
could become acquainted with him and listen to his conver-
sation without feeling towards him great respect.
He seemed to be imbued with principles, the power of
which, though uttered more than eighteen hundred years ago,
is not even now fully known or appreciated, to wit, kindness,
sympathy, love. In these he believed and trusted. They
were with him in his daily walks, like good angels, guiding
his steps along the pathway of life. When reviled, he re-
viled not again ; and when assaulted by evil on one cheek,
he overcame that evil by offering the other cheek.
It would be difficult to find a man who had lived so long
in whom there was so little to reprove; and as difficult to
find one in whose life and character there was so much to
love and imitate.
He died January 9, 1830, aged eighty years and three
months, and was entombed in the Old Burying Ground.
December, 1854.
152 MEMOIR.
MEMOIR OF EPHRAIM WOOD.
BY ELIJAH WOOD, JR.
Ephraim Wood was one of the first members of the club.
He was born August 1, 1733, and William, his ancestor, was
the father of a large family of that name. William had two
children, Michael and Ruth. Michael lived on the farm
now owned by Samuel Dennis. He had six children, Jacob,
Abraham, Isaac, Thompson, John, and Abigail. Jacob had
six children, Jacob, Mary, Ephraim, Dorcas, Hannah, Milli-
cent. Of Ephraim there is no record, except that he mar-
ried Mary Bass, and died March 20, 1789, aged eighty-eight
years. He was father to Ephraim, the subject of this me-
moir, and lived on the farm of his father and grandfather.
Ephraim, Jr., was married to Mary Heald (the daughter of
Amos Heald, who lived on the Hayden farm in Lincoln),
October 24, 1758, by the Rev. Daniel Bliss. She died July
13, 1807, leaving ten children, Danie], Perces, Stephen, Na-
than, Hannah, who died young, Hannah, 2d, Ephraim, Will-
iam, Elijah, John. John is the only one living. Ephraim
married for his second wife Millicent Barrett, widow of James
Barrett, Esq., January 28, 1808. She survived him, and died
June 1, 1821. His mother was a very resolute woman, and
scolded the British for coming here to oppress the people,
which called forth the remark from one, ‘ Old woman, we
_ will not hurt you ; you will die yourself before long.” He
inherited the farm (now owned and occupied by Elijah Wood,
Jr.) from his mother, where he lived from his marriage to
his death. He gave one half of the farm to his son Nathan,
when he became of age. Nathan died young, and it was
given to Nathan, 2d, who afterwards sold to Elijah Wood.
EPHRAIM WOOD. 153
The house on the premises and the one on the farm, now oc-
cupied by Mr. Dennis, were both raised in one day in the
fall of 1763, being built by two brothers, Ephraim and Amos.
He was anxious to have the farm kept in the name and not
divided, and said he did not wish to have his farm cut into
shoe-strings after he was gone. He was remarkably straight,
and very large in stature, weighing two hundred and fifty
pounds. It is said the calf of his leg measured twenty-four
inches in circumference. He was bred a shoemaker, and
learned the trade in times of “‘ whipping the cat,” which was
to go from house to house making and mending shoes, and
worked in a half under-ground shop, which stood between
the house and barn now on the premises, under an old balm-
in-Gilead tree, the trunk of which is now standing. He was
very successful in business, and added considerable to his
property. It is said that one of his neighbors of the craft
was one day complaining of his ill luck, and of having a poor
trade, to a Scotchman. “Oh,” says the Scotchman, “you
have a very poor trade, but Ephraim Wood have a very good
trade.” He had no other advantages of education than what
were afforded by the very imperfect common schools of that
day. He had a calm, considerate mind and sound judgment,
which peculiarly fitted him to act an important part in the
times in which it was his lot to live. He held many of-
fices of trust in the town. He was chosen first selectman,
town clerk, assessor, and overseer of the poor in 1771, and
reélected twenty-seven years ; and for much of the spirit of
those times, which have come down to us as a matter of rec-
ord, we are indebted to him, as Shattuck’s “ History ” fully
shows. He was one of the first justices appointed by the
council after the secession from British authority, and held
the office during the remainder of his life. He was ap-
pointed special judge of the Court of Common Pleas, March
12, 1785, and judge of the same court 1797, and held the
office till the new organization of the court in 1811. In hin,
says a notice published soon after his death, were united
154 MEMOIR.
those qualities and virtues which formed a character at once
amiable, useful, respectable, and religious. Early in life, he
engaged in civil and public business, and, by a judicious ahd
faithful discharge of duty, acquired confidence and a reputa-
tion with his fellow-citizens and the public. The American
Revolution called into exercise his active and vigorous pow-
ers ; and as a magistrate and in various departments he ren-
dered important services to the community. He used his
influence in kindling the spirit of liberty in the colonies. He
was on a committee, chosen in 1773, to prepare an answer
and instructions to the representative of the town, denying
the power of parliament to tax them without their consent,
and expressed their firm determination never to submit to
any infringement of their liberty. He was chairman of the
committee resolving not to duy, se//, or use any tea or any
article on which there was a duty for raising a revenue. He
was one of the delegates to the convention at Concord, Au-
gust 30th and 31st, to consult on the proper measures to be
taken when the act was passed for the better regulation of
the government of Massachusetts Bay, and was one of the
committee chosen to wait on several individuals who had
taken part on the side of government, and compel them to
recant and forswear all concern in any offices under the law
for altering the charter. He went to his neighbor, Dr. Lee
(supposing him to be a whig), and asked him to go to Cam-
bridge and see the men who had accepted offices under gov-
ernment. His answer was, “Myheart is with you, but [
cannot go ;” but, immediately on his family retiring to bed,
he started to inform the officers, and was seen in the morn-
ing fording the river above the South Bridge in great haste,
with his long stockings down to his heels. Afterwards, the
Committee of Correspondence, of which Mr. Wood was one,
were of the opinion that Lee be confined to his farm, and the
people supported them in their decision. He was one of the
committee appointed to present a copy of the Continental
Congress Association to every individual in town for their
EPHRAIM WOOD ols
signature, and likewise one to see that the articles of associa-
tion were observed in the minute companies. Stores were
deposited in his possession, namely, six barrels of powder
and a quantity of bullets. When the alarm was given that
the British were coming to town, and orders for the removal
of the stores, he started for home with a keg of powder on
his back, and, when he came in sight of the South Bridge, it
was guarded by regulars. He immediately started down the
river, knowing where there was a boat, and just crossed as
they came up on the other side. Previous to this, they had
entered his house for the purpose of taking him prisoner, but
being actively engaged in directing the important events of
the day, and in removing the stores, he escaped detection.
He followed the British on their retreat to Charlestown
with his gun in his hands. Dr. Lee often told him, after the
war, that his house would have been burned if he had not in-
terfered for him. He was one of the delegates to the State
Convention, July 14, 1779, to establish a state price current,
and to adopt other means ‘to prevent monopoly and unfair
dealing. On the 1st of October, 1776, this town was called
upon to act on the question whether it would give its consent
that the House of Representatives, with the Council, should
enact a Constitution or form of government for this-state.
The subject was referred to a committee, of which he was
chairman. They reported against it; but in the fall of
1779 he was delegate to a convention in Cambridge, and a
Constitution was formed. He obtained the pardon of Job
Shattuck, one of the leading insurgents in Middlesex County,
in 1787, thereby showing his sympathy for those who unfor-
tunately acted from mistaken views. The rights and liber-
ties of his country were near his heart, and he was a warm
and zealous defender of them against all encroachments.
He was a true disciple of the great Washington, a friend to
“liberty with order,” and firmly attached to “the union of
the States and the constitutional independence of the indi-
vidual States.”
156 MEMOIR.
In domestic life his disposition and example were highly
amiable and worthy. As a Christian, he was ardent and
sincere. Having lived the life he died the “death of the
righteous.” He, and his wife Mary joined the church Jan-
uary 3,1796. His last sickness was caused by his being
knocked down by a cow, and terminated in the palsy in his
throat, and, as it was impossible to take nourishment, he
died of starvation, April 8, 1814, aged eighty years and eight
months.
February, 1854.
FOHN VOSE. 157
MEMOIR OF JOHN VOSE.
; BY CYRUS WARREN.
John Vose, the subject of this memoir, was born in Milton,
Mass., in 1761. ‘It is thought by some of his associates that
he was here at the time of the Revolution, but I can find no
record of his having lived in Concord until the year 1783,
which was the first year of his paying taxes in this place.
He married Mercy Foster, of Charlestown. He was a tan-
ner by trade, and began the business in this village about
the year 1783, and carried it on about forty years. Tan-
ning business was carried on very differently in those days
from what it is now. He retailed all the leather which he
tanned. He had customers in all the neighboring towns,
who used to come and buy in small quantities. He had one
peculiarity in trading: he would take out a few sides of sole
leather at a time, and mark the finest sides for particular
customers, to prevent their being selected, and when a cus-
tomer called who was about to leave because he could not
find anything to suit him, rather than not trade, the deacon
would tell him that customer had not called, and he had
some more drying, and he would mark another side for him.
He had a very gentle way of dunning. Sometimes, when he
met one who owed him, he would tell him he had not charged
the last side which he bought ; he had only put it down on
the slate. He was an honest, upright man; punctual in ful-
filling his promises; as his neighbor, the late Dr. Heywood,
said, he was always willing to lend him money, for if he did
not pay it soon, he would be sure to call and see if he wanted
it. Deacon Vose was one of the original members of this
Circle, and for several years they met at his house, once a
158 MEMOIR.
week, during the season for holding their meetings ; he fur-
nished the refreshments, and they paid him. He continued
a member until 1832, when he resigned. In 1819 he built a
good barn, and about that time closed up his tanning busi-
ness, and turned his attention to agriculture. He was a very
good farmer, and it was said of him that he raised the most
English hay of any man in town, according to the number
of acres he cultivated.
He was a member of Dr. Ripley’s society and church from
early life until the year 1826, when he left, and became one
of the first in assisting to build up a Trinitarian society,
where he was chosen one of the first deacons of the church,
and remained a respected and beloved member during his
life. He was a public-spirited, patriotic citizen, and always
willing to bear his part of the burdens of society. He had
no children, but he adopted a niece of his own and one of
his wife’s. They educated and brought them up as their
own.
Near the close of his life he made his will, appointed
Hon. Nathan Brooks his executor, and put the care of his
widow and property into his hands. ; He died in April, 1833,
aged seventy-two.
January, 1856.
JOHN RICHARDSON. 159
MEMOIR OF JOHN RICHARDSON.
BY GEORGE KEYES.
John Richardson was born in the town of Watertown, of ©
poor but honest parents, on the 16th day of July, 1758. I
do not find, upon careful examination of the history of the
Corinthian Lodge, by L. A. Surette,’ or any other reliable
authority, that the year of his birth was marked by any great
disturbance of the heavenly bodies, or that anything very,
extraordinary occurred in the world during that summer.
Although in after life the proprietor of a line of stables from
Boston to Keene, I cannot find that he was laid in a manger,
or waited upon by any deputation of wise men at this early
period of his existence, other than those who are usual on
such occasions. ‘The assertion that Tennyson, the poet-lau-
reate, should have derived one of the ideas so beautifully
expressed by him in the poem of the “ Grandmother” from
any of the surroundings of young John, I think open to
grave doubt, as I have not been able to obtain any authentic
information that the poet ever heard of his birth. Ido not
find, from good authority, that John in his youth did any
remarkable thing. I am afraid that he never cut down a
valuable tree of his father’s, and then waited upon him with
tears in his eyes and the assurance that he could not tell a
lie, and so escaped the merited thrashing ; but I do think it
highly probable that he may have ridden some valuable colt
to death, and told many lies, and received as many thrash-
ings as usually fell to the lot of the enterprising youth of his
day. History is silent as to whether he was ever caught in
the act of flying his kite on Sunday; but if he was, I have
no doubt he was as ready with the excuse that he was en-
SS
160 MEMOIR.
deavoring to draw the lightning from the clouds as an-
other distinguished American was on a similar occasion.
History is also silent as to the reason of his receiving the
name of John. I can only account for it on the supposition
that his parents must have had a foreboding of his busy,
trading life, and selected it from the Scripture, from its con-
nection with a charger as appropriate to him when making
his various trades.
He was apprenticed early in life to Deacon Townsend, a
baker in Waltham, and I find him showing signs of his fut-
ure shrewdness on the rgth of April, 1775 (the day when the
slight unpleasantness between the colonies and the mother
country began), by trading off a load of bread belonging to
his master for a load of powder, which he carried to Lexing-
ton and disposed of, returning to his master with the story
that he had been ordered to do so by the selectmen and
brother deacons. Whether actuated by a spirit of patriotism,
or on account of this transaction, he soon after, at the age
of seventeen, enlisted, and served for a short time in the
militia, a grateful country giving him a pension for the rest
of his life in return for his valuable aid in its time of need.
He came to Concord in 1778, and, having been bred to
the business, opened the bakeshop in the building now owned
by Mr. Daniel Wood, nearly opposite the hotel. He built
the house known as the county house, now owned by the
Catholics; but in 1789, seeing a chance for a good trade,
swapped it with the county for the hotel which stood upon
the spot now occupied by the Middlesex House. He gave
the county the land upon which to build the jail now stand-
ing, and in return was appointed the first jailer when it
was finished. He had an interest in the tannery which was
established on what is now the Mill-dam, and constantly in-
creased his means by his various trades until 1802, when he
formed a business partnership with Jonathan Wheeler, under
the style of Richardson & Wheeler, and carried on an ex-
tensive business in the building opposite the Unitarian
church, next to the house of Cyrus Pierce,
FOHN RICHARDSON. IOI
But the small town soon proved too contracted a field for
the operation of his active mind, and in 1805 he sold out
to J. & J. H. Davis, and removed to Boston, where he en-
tered largely into the importing business, having branch es-
tablishments in New York and Baltimore, until the death of
his partner in 18rz, when he retired, and turning his atten-
tion to investing his money in real estate, settled in Newton,
in which town he lived until his death in 1837, at the age of
seventy-nine.
He was largely interested in hotels, owning at one time
as many as twenty, and having it said of him that he could
ride from Boston to Keene, N. H., and take all his meals
and sleep in his own houses. He was a man of great en-
ergy and industry, always taking the lead of any man that he
employed, in all kinds of work, rising very early, and oblig-
ing his family to do the same at all seasons of the year.
Upon one occasion, when leaving the hotel in this town, he
fell, as he was getting into his sleigh, and dislocated his
shoulder. His friend begged him to remain, but he said he
had some business that must be attended to, and drove to
his house in Newton with his shoulder out of joint, and it is
said that it required the aid of several strong men to pull it
into place again. He was always proud of his activity, and
in a talk with a gentleman of rather sedentary habits, the
conversation. turned upon how much quicker some men wore
out their boots than others, and his friend was inclined to
blame him for not wearing his longer. He at length became
a little vexed, and said: ‘Look here, Squire; you just put
your boots into the seat of your breeches, and you will
find you will wear them out a great deal quicker than you
do now.”
He was always a great driver in any work that he had
under way. At one time when called upon by some friends
at his home in Newton, while talking with them in his par-
lor, he asked them to excuse him for a short time, as’ he
had some business to attend to. After they had left, one
11
162 MEMOIR.
had the curiosity to ask the other “ what business had called
him away so suddenly ;” when it was found that his quick eye
had seen a party of his men, who were shoveling manure at
his barn, working, as he thought, too slowly. He had gone
from the parlor to the place where they were at work, and
loaded up one or two carts, to show them how it should be
done, and then back to his company, stopping to change
some of his clothes and his boots on the way.
He was a large, strongly built man, and must have weighed
over two hundred pounds; of a cheerful temperament, and,
according to the ideas of his time, not very religious. The
only record I can find of his religious views was his speech
when he had two men disputing upon religion, who deferred
to him. He is reported to have said, ‘“‘ What’s the use of
talking. See here, when God pronounced the curse upon
Adam, he said his body should return to the dust, and his
spirit to God who gave it. Now, you may put in just as
much filling as you please, you can’t alter the web.”
Whether he had any vague notions of temperance, in the
modern acceptance of the term, I know not; but I feel very
positive that he never belonged to any lodge of Good Tem-
plars, and that his various hotels were never interfered with
by any state constables.
He was liberal in his way, and I have no doubt charitable.
He made many enemies in his numerous trading operations,
and they hated him intensely. One of them said on one
occasion, in regard to his charities, that he exceeded the
Scripture injunction in regard to it; for he not only did not
Jet his right hand know what his left hand did, but he never
did anything with his right hand for fear his left would find
it out. But he certainly was very kind to all his relatives,
often assisting them, and at one time he supported and edu-
cated in his own family four children of Mr. Wood, after
their father’s death.
In one respect he was surpassed by most of the members
of the club of his day, and that was in the number of his
FOHN RICHARDSON. 163
wives and children, He never had but two wives and only
five children; while I think the usual allowance to mem-
bers of his time was three wives and fifteen to eighteen
children. :
By his first wife he had one daughter, and by his second
two daughters and two sons. One of his sons is still living
in Worcester. The sons both received a liberal education,
and graduated from Harvard College. The story is told,
as an illustration of his habits of life, that upon one occa-
sion when his son was furnishing his room at college he
requested his father to allow him to purchase a carpet.
“No,” said John; “I have no objections to the carpet, but
if I pay for that, I won’t pay for shoes, for you have no
business to have both at one time.” For his time, and in
his way, he was a power in the land. For our time he
would probably have been a great railroad manager, and
made his mark broad and deep, not only over the land, but
into the pockets of the stockholders. He would have been
great at log-rolling in committee rooms, watering stock in
directors’ parlors, or getting up great speculations in oil
wells, silver mines, or telegraphs. But in his time there was
no such field for his enterprise. His only idea of “ log-roll-
ing” was a hard task with men and oxen in the woods and
swamps. “ Watering stock ” with him meant driving his cat-
tle to the nearest brook or pond; and instead of housing
“bulls and bears” in comfortable offices in our principal
cities, the one was only tolerated as a necessary evil with
his herds of cows, while the other was hunted as a “ var-
mint” which every one thought it right to destroy. To sum
up his qualities in a few words, ‘‘I think he was a man who
could keep a hotel.”
February 21, 1871.
164 MEMOIR.
MEMOIR OF ISAAC HURD, M. D.
BY E. R. HOAR,
Dr. Isaac Hurd was the son of Benjamin Hurd, and was
born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, July 27, 1756. He en-
tered Harvard College in 1772, and graduated in 1776, in
the same class with Christopher Gore, Chief Justice Sewall,
Judge Thacher, Chief Justice Tyler, of Vermont, Dr. Aaron
Dexter, the first professor of chemistry and materia medica
at Cambridge, and his own subsequent pastor and life-long
friend, Dr. Ripley, of Concord. On leaving college, he im-
mediately entered upon the study of medicine with Dr.
Prescott, of Groton, and in 1778 settled in Billerica as a
practicing physician. In the mean time he was for four
months a surgeon in the Army of the Revolution. On the
13th of September, 1778, he married Miss Sally Tompson,
the daughter of William and Sarah Tompson. She was
born January 12, 1758, and died June 1, 1789. They had
five children: William Tompson, Sally, Isaac, Jr., Betsey,
and Benjamin. Isaac, Jr., was the only one of these who
was married, and he had a large family of children, and be-
came a well-known citizen of Concord, and a member of the
Social Circle.
On the death of his wife, Dr. Hurd removed to Concord,
where he became at once a leading and influential citizen,
and continued in the practice of his profession until his
death.
In December, 1790, he married Mrs. Polly Wilder, the
widow of Josiah Wilder, M. D., of Lancaster. She was the
daughter of Gershom and Mary Flagg, of Boston ; was born
October 25, 1750, and died November 26, 1821, and had
ISAAC HURD, M. D. 165.
two children by her first husband, Henry and Mary Wilder.
Her daughter Mary married a West Indian, whose name
was Scalckwick, who left her early a widow, and afterward
married the Honorable Daniel Appleton White, of Salem,
judge of probate for the county of Essex. Before her first
marriage, and during her widowhood, Mrs. Scalckwick was
the most distinguished of all the young ladies of Concord
for beauty, grace, and sprightliness. She was the belle of
the village, and the fascination of her manners and conver-
sation made the hospitable mansion of Dr. Hurd a most
attractive place to the young men of that day, and has come
down as a beautiful tradition to later times.
February 3, 1825, Dr. Hurd married as his third wife Mrs.
Mary Bates, the widow of Captain Caleb Bates, of Concord.
Her maiden name was Polly Douglass, of Scituate. She
was born September 30, 1775, and died February 22, 1854.
Dr. Hurd died November 19, 1844, at the age of eighty-
eight, having continued to practice his profession to the
very close of his life. His early medical education must
have been very imperfect ; and the means of obtaining a
thorough one were extremely limited at that period. There
was no medical school connected with the university then,
and the opportunities for instruction within reach of the or-
dinary country practitioners were far behind the standard
established by modern science. He did not receive the
degree of doctor of medicine until the year 1819 ; but he
had a large practice, and his great experience gave him a
professional position and a reputation for skill which it
might have been difficult to trace to any other source. I
speak with diffidence upon such a subject ; but it has seemed
to me that those old doctors, perhaps from very humble be-
ginnings, accompanied by many failures and mistakes, and
with a good deal of pretension not agreeable to modern
taste, attained at last to a’ practical sagacity that almost
equalled, if it did not in some respects surpass, the results
of scientific culture. They had an acquaintance with the
166 MEMOIR.
common diseases like that which the botanist has with
plants, —recognizing their type and generic character at a
‘glance, under any diversity of form; and in the treatment
of them finding their way with the steady confidence of an
Indian in a wood. I have not understood that Dr. Hurd’s
professional brethren thought very highly of him, and he
had a pompous way of speaking, and showed a disposition
to magnify his own achievements, for which cultivated men
are apt to feel contempt; but that he had some substantial
merits was proved by his retaining the confidence and re-
spect of many of our best people, who continued to employ
him even in the extreme decline of his powers; and with all
his faults and imperfections, he had a certain instinctive sa-
gacity which made him trusted as a physician, while his
kindness and fidelity to his patients were such as to show
that he had the feelings of a gentleman.
Dr. Johnson’s famous lines may be well applied to him: —
“ Yet still he fills affection’s eye,
Obscurely wise and coarsely kind ;
Nor lettered arrogance deny
The praise to merit unrefined.
“When fainting nature called for aid,
And hovering death prepared the blow,
His vigorous remedy displayed
The power of art without the show.”
Dr. Hurd was a man of very strong physical constitution,
rather below the middle height, thick-set, fleshy ; his hair
strong, abundant, but little tinged with gray, until quite ad-
vanced in age, and toward the close of his life of a silver
whiteness. His features were large, his voice was rather
gruff in tone, his utterance rapid, and in the latter part of
his life a little indistinct from loss of teeth.
He was a large owner of real estate, and, when I first
knew him, was reputed to be the wealthiest man in the town.
He owned a place in Billerica, one on the borders of Car-
ISAAC HURD, M. D. 167
lisle, various wood lots, lands, and houses in the east part of
the village in Concord, and all the land on the north side of
the Main Street, from the mill brook to the house of Samuel
Hoar, including two taverns. But, in part from his son’s
misfortunes in business, and in part from holding a great
deal of unproductive real estate which he had not paid for,
he lost his property, and for the last twelve years of his life
was very poor. He was assisted by a wealthy brother, and
applied for and obtained a small pension for his services in
the Revolutionary War; but his old age was tried by that
saddest of human experiences to a proud nature, fond of
power, and even inclined to be imperious, the change from
affluence and domestic comfort and a sense of social impor-
tance to poverty and solitude in his declining years. He
had a strong will, and was long used to being looked up to
in his family, and treated with consideration and deference
by ‘his neighbors ; and it is no wonder that he felt the
change in his circumstances keenly, and that it made him
querulous. But his relations with some of his patients and
friends were unchanged, and it was touching to see how
deeply the old man felt every token of respect and kindness.
He delivered an address before the Humane Society in
1799, which was published. He was one of the founders
of the society of Freemasons in the village ; and of his emi-
nent services in that department of usefulness, the work
which he did therein, the honors which he won and wore,
and “the antique and beautiful master’s jewel”? which he
gave to the brethren, are they not all duly and fully recorded
in the book of the chronicles of the Corinthian Lodge, to be
known and read of all men?
Dr. Hurd was one of the original members of the Social
Circle at its second reorganization in 1794, and continued a
member till 1831, when he resigned, and was succeeded by
Captain Nathan Barrett. He was a frequent attendant at
its meetings, and the records show that he was often chosen
to preside.
March 21, 1865.
168 MEMOIR.
MEMOIR OF REV. EZRA RIPLEY, D. D.
BY RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
Ezra Ripley was born May 1, 1751 (O. 5.), at Woodstock,
Connecticut. He was the fifth of the nineteen children of
Noah and Lydia (Kent) Ripley. Seventeen of these nine-
teen children married, and it is stated that the mother died,
leaving nineteen children, one hundred and two grandchil-
dren, and ninety-six great-grandchildren. The father was
born at Hingham, on the farm purchased by his ancestor,
William Ripley, of England, at the first settlement of the
“town, which farm has been occupied by seven.or eight gen-
erations. Ezra Ripley followed the business of farming till
sixteen years of age, when his father wished him to be quali-
fied to teach a grammar school, not thinking himself able to
send one son to college without injury to his other children.
With this view, the father agreed with the late Rev. Dr.
Forbes, of Gloucester, then minister of North Brookfield, to
fit Ezra for college by the time he should be twenty-one
years of age, and to have him labor during the time suffi-
ciently to pay for his instruction, clothing, and books.
But, when fitted for college, the son could not be con-
tented with teaching, which he had tried the preceding win-
ter. He had early manifested a desire for learning, and
could not be satisfied without a public education. Always
inclined to notice ministers, and frequently attempting, when
only five or six years old, to imitate them by preaching,
now that he had become a professor of religion he had an
ardent desire to be a preacher of the gospel. He had to
encounter great difficulties, but, through a kind Providence
and the patronage of Dr. Forbes, he entered Harvard Uni-
t
EZRA RIPLEY, D. D. 169
versity, July, 1772. The commencement of the Revolution-
ary War greatly interrupted his education at college. In
1775, in his senior year, the college was removed from Cam-
bridge to this town. The studies were much broken up.
Many of the students entered the army, and the class never
returned to Cambridge. There were an unusually large num-
ber of distinguished men in this class of 1776: Christopher
Gore, Governor of Massachusetts and Senator in Congress ;
Samuel Sewall, Chief Justice of Massachusetts ; George
Thacher, Judge of the Supreme Court; Royal Tyler, Chief
Justice of Vermont ; and the late learned Dr. Prince, of Sa-
lem. Mr. Ripley was ordained minister of Concord No-
vember 7, 1778. He married, November 16, 1780, Mrs.
Phebe (Bliss) Emerson, then a widow of thirty-nine, with
five children. They had three children: Samuel, born May
11, 1783; Daniel Bliss, born August 1, 1784; Sarah, born
April 8, 1789. He died September 21, 1841.
To these facts, gathered chiefly from his own diary, and.
stated nearly in his own words, I can only add a few traits
from memory.
He was identified with the ideas and forms of the New
England church, which expired about the same time with
him, so that he and his coevals seemed the rear guard of
the great camp and army of the Puritans, which, however in
its last days declining into formalism, in the heyday of its
strength had planted and liberated America. It was a pity
that his old meeting-house should have been modernized in
his time. JI am sure all who remember both will associate
his form with whatever was grave and droll in the old, cold,.
unpainted, uncarpeted, square-pewed meeting-house, with
its four iron-gray deacons in their little box under the pulpit,
with Watts’s hymns, with long prayers, rich with the dic-
tion of ages, and not less with the report like musketry from
the movable seats. He and his contemporaries, the old New
England clergy, were believers in what is called a particular
Providence, — certainly, as they held it, a very particular
170 MEMOIR.
Providence, — following the narrowness of King David and
the Jews, who thought the universe existed only or mainly
for their church and congregation. Perhaps I cannot better
illustrate this tendency than by citing a record from the
diary of the father of his predecessor, the minister of Mal-
den, written in the blank leaves of the almanac for the year
1735. The minister writes against January 31st: ‘“‘ Bought
a shay for £27 tos. The Lord grant it may be a comfort
and blessing to my family.” In March following he notes:
“Had a safe and comfortable journey to York.” But in
April 24th, we find: “ Shay overturned, with my wife and I
in it, yet neither of us much hurt. Blessed be our gracious
Preserver. Part of the shay, as it lay upon one side, went
over my wife, and yet she was scarcely anything hurt. How
wonderful the preservation!” Then again, May 5th: ‘ Went
to the beach with three of the children. The beast, being
frightened when we were all out of the shay, overturned and
broke it. I desire (I hope I desire it) that the Lord would
teach me suitably to repent this Providence, to make suitable
remarks on it, and to be suitably affected with it. Have I
done well to get me a shay? Have I not been proud or too
fond of this convenience? Do I exercise the faith in the
Divine care and protection which I ought todo? Should I
not be more in my study and less fond of diversion? Do I
not withhold more than is meet from pious and charitable
uses?” Well, on 15th May we have this: “ Shay brought
home ; mending cost ‘thirty shillings. Favored in this re-
spect beyond expectation.” 16th May: “My wife and I
rode together to Rumney Marsh. The beast frighted sev-
eral times.” And at last we have this record, June 4th:
“Disposed of my shay to Rev. Mr. White.”
The same faith made what was strong and what was weak
in Dr. Ripley and his associates. He was a perfectly sin-
cere man, punctual, severe, but just and charitable, and if
he made his forms a strait-jacket to others, he wore the same
himself all his years. Trained in this church, and very well
EZRA RIPLEY, D. D. I7I
qualified by his natural talent to work in it, it was never out
of his mind. He looked at every person and thing from the
parochial point of view. I remember, when a boy, driving
about Concord with him, and in passing each house he told
the story of the family that lived in it; and especially he
gave me anecdotes of the nine church members who had
made a division in the church in the time of his predecessor,
and showed me how every one of the nine had come to bad
fortune or to a bad end, His prayers for rain and against
the lightning, “ that it may not lick up our spirits,” and for
good weather, and against sickness and insanity, that we
have not been tossed to and fro until the dawning of the
day, that we have not been a terror to ourselves and others,
are well remembered, and his own entire faith that these
petitions were not to be overlooked, and were entitled to a
favorable answer. Some of those around me will rémem-
ber one occasion of severe drought in this vicinity, when the
late Rev. Mr. Goodwin offered to relieve the doctor of the
duty of leading in prayer ; but the doctor, suddenly remem-
bering the season, rejected his offer with some humor, as
with an air that said to all the congregation, “ This is no
time for you young Cambridge men; the affair, sir, is get-
ting serious. I will pray myself.” One August afternoon,
when I was in his hayfield helping him with his man to rake
up his hay, I well remember his pleading, almost reproach-
ful, looks at the sky, when the thunder gust was coming
up to spoil his hay. He raked very fast, then looked at the
cloud, and said, “ We are in the Lord’s hand ; mind your
rake, George! We are in the Lord’s hand ;”” and seemed to
say, “ You know me ; this field is mine, — Dr. Ripley’s, —
thine own servant!”
He used to tell the story of one of his old friends, the
minister of Sudbury, who, being at the Thursday lecture in
Boston, heard the officiating clergymen praying for rain. As
soon as the service was over, he went to the petitioner, and
said, “You Boston ministers, as soon as a tulip wilts under
172 MEMOIR.
your windows, go to church and pray for rain, until all Con-
cord and Sudbury are under water.” I once rode with him
to a house at Nine Acre Corner to attend the funeral of the
father of a family. He mentioned to me on the way his
fears that the oldest son, who was now to succeed to the
farm, was becoming intemperate. We presently arrived, and
the doctor addressed each of the mourners separately : “Sir,
I condole with you.” “ Madam, I condole with you.” “ Sir,
I knew your great-grandfather. When I came to this town,
your great-grandfather was a substantial farmer in this very
place, a member of the church, and an excellent citizen.
Your grandfather followed him, and was a virtuous man.
Now your father is to be carried to his grave, full of labors
and virtues. There is none of that large family left but you,
and it rests with you to bear up the good name and useful-
ness of your ancestors. If you fail, Ichabod, the glory is
departed. Let us pray.” Right manly he was, and the
manly thing he could always say. JI remember a little
speech he made to me, when the last tie of blood which
held me and my brothers to his house was broken by the
death of his daughter. He said, on parting, “1 wish you and
your brothers to come to this house as you have always
done. You will not like to be excluded; I shall not like
to be neglected.”
When “ Put Merriam,” after his release from the state
prison, had the effrontery to call on the doctor as an old ac-
quaintance, in the midst of general conversation Mr. Frost
came in, and the doctor presently said, “ Mr. Merriam, my
brother and colleague, Mr. Frost, has come to take tea with
me. I regret very much the causes (which you know very
well) which make it impossible for me to ask you to stay
and break bread with us.” With the doctor’s views it was a
matter of religion to say thus much. He had a reverence
and love of society, and the patient, continuing courtesy,
carrying out every respectful attention to the end, which
marks what is called the manners of the old school. His
EZRA RIPLEY, D. D. 173
hospitality obeyed Charles Lamb’s rule, and “ran fine to
the last.” His partiality for ladies was always strong, and
was by no means abated by time. He claimed privilege
of years, was much addicted to kissing ; spared neither
maid, wife, nor widow, and, as a lady thus favored re-
marked to me, “seemed as if he was going to make a meal
of you.”
He was very credulous, and as he was no reader of books
or journals he knew nothing beyond the columns of his
weekly religious newspaper, the tracts of his sect, and, per-
haps, the ‘‘ Middlesex Yeoman.” He was the easy dupe of
any tonguey agent, whether colonizationist or anti-papist, or
charlatan of iron combs, or tractors, or phrenology, or mag-
netism, who went by.
At the time when Jack Downing’s letters were in every
paper, he repeated to me at table some of the particulars of
that gentleman’s intimacy with General Jackson, in a man-
ner that betrayed to me at once that he took the whole for
fact. To undeceive him, I hastened to recall some particu-
lars to show the absurdity of the thing, as the major and the
President going out skating on the Potomac, etc. ‘ Why,”
said the doctor with perfect faith, “it was a bright moon-
light night ;’? and I am not sure that he did not die in the
belief in the reality of Major Downing. Like other credu-
lous men, he was opinionative, and, as I well remember, a
great browbeater of the poor old fathers who still survived
from the 19th of April, to the end that they should testify
to his history as he had written it. He was a man so kind
and sympathetic, his character was so transparent, and his
merits so intelligible to all observers, that he was very
justly appreciated in this community. He was a natural
gentleman, no dandy, but courtly, hospitable, manly, and
public-spirited ; his nature social, his house open to all men.
We remember the remark made by the old farmer who used
to travel hither from Maine, that no horse from the eastern
country would go by the doctor’s gate. Travelers from the
174 MEMOLR.
West and North and South bear the like testimony. His
brow was serene and open to his visitor, for he loved men,
and he had no studies, no occupations, which company could
interrupt. His friends were his study, and to see them loos-
ened his talents and his tongue. In his house dwelt order
and prudence and plenty. There was no waste and no stint.
He was open-handed and just and generous. Ingratitude
and meanness in his beneficiaries did not wear out his com-
passion ; he bore the insult, and the next day his basket for
the beggar, his horse and chaise for the cripple, were at their
door. Though he knew the value of a dollar as well as an-
other man, yet he loved to buy dearer and sell cheaper than
others. He subscribed to all charities, and it is no reflec-
tion on others to-day that he was the most public-spirited
man in the town. The late Dr. Gardiner, in a funeral ser-
mon on some parishioner whose virtues did not readily come
to mind, honestly said, “ He was good at fires.” Dr. Ripley
had many virtues, and yet all will remember that even in his
old age, if the fire bell was rung, he was instantly on horse-
back with his buckets and bag. He showed even in his fire-
side discourse traits of that pertinency and judgment, soften-
ing ever and anon into elegancy, which make the distinction
of the scholar, and which, under better discipline, might
have ripened into a Bentley ora Porson. He had a fore-
sight, when he opened his mouth, of all that be would say,
and he marched straight to the conclusion. In debate in
the vestry or the Lyceum, the structure of his sentences was
admirable ; so neat, so natural, so terse, his words fel] like
stones ; and often, though quite unconscious of it, his speech
was a Satire on the loose, voluminous, draggle-tail periods of
other speakers. He sat down when he had done. A man
of anecdote, his talk in the parlor was chiefly narrative.
We remember the remark of a gentleman who listened with
much delight to his conversation at the time when the doctor
was preparing to go to Baltimore and Washington, “that a
man who could tell a story so well was company for kings
and John Quincy Adams.”
EZRA RIPLEY, D. D. 175
Sage and savage strove harder in him than in any of my*
acquaintance, each getting the mastery by turns, and pretty
sudden turns, ‘Save us from the extremity of cold and
these violent sudden changes.” ‘The society will meet
after the Lyceum, as it is difficult to bring people together
in the evening and no moon.” ‘‘Mr. N. F. is dead, and I
expect to hear-.of the death of Mr. B. It is cruel to separate
old people from their wives in this cold weather.”
With a very limited acquaintance with books, his knowl-
edge was an external experience, an Indian wisdom, the ob-
servation of such facts as country life for nearly a century
could supply. He watched with interest the garden, the
field, the orchard, the house and the barn, horse, cow,
sheep, and dog, and all the common objects that engage the
thought of the farmer. He kept his eye on the horizon, and
knew the weather like a sea-captain. The usual experiences
of men, birth, marriage, sickness, death, burial, the common
temptations, the common ambitions, — he studied them all,
and sympathized so well in these that he was excellent com-
pany and counsel to all, even the most humble and ignorant.
With extraordinary states of mind, with states of enthusiasm
or enlarged speculation, he had no sympathy, and pretended
to none. He was sincere, and kept to his point, and his
mark was never remotes His conversation was strictly per-
sonal and apt to the party and the occasion. An eminent
skill he had in saying difficult and unspeakable things ; in
delivering to a man or a woman that which all their other
friends had abstained from saying, in uncovering the band-
age from a sore place, and applying the surgeon’s knife with
a truly surgical spirit. Was a man a sot, or a spendthrift, or
too long time a bachelor, or suspected of some hidden crime,
or had he quarreled with his wife, or collared his father, or
was there any cloud or suspicious circumstances in his be-
havior, the good pastor knew his way straight to that point,
believing himself entitled to a full explanation, and whatever
relief to the conscience of both parties plain speech could
176 MEMOIR.
effect was sure to be procured. In all such passages he jus-
tified himself to the conscience, and commonly to the love,
of the persons concerned. He was the more competent to
these searching discourses from his knowledge of family his-
tory. He knew everybody’s grandfather, and seemed to ad-
dress each person rather as the representative of his house
and name, than as an individual. In him have perished
more local and personal anecdotes of this village and vicin-
ity than is possessed by any survivor. This intimate knowl-
edge of families, and this skill of speech, and, still more, his
sympathy, made him incomparable in his parochial visits,
and in his exhortations and prayers. He gave himself up
to his feelings, and said on the instant the best things in the
world. Many and many a felicity he had in his prayers, now
forever lost, which defied all the rules of all the rhetoricians.
He did not know when he was good in prayer or sermon, for
he had no literature and no art ; but he believed, and there-
fore spoke. He was eminently loyal in his nature, and not
fond of adventure’ or innovation. By education, and still
more by temperament, he was engaged to the old forms of
the New England church. Not speculative, but affectionate ;
devout, but with an extreme love of order, he adopted heart-
ily, though in its mildest forms, the creed and catechism of
the fathers, and appeared a modern Israelite in his attach-
ment to the Hebrew history and faith. He was a man very
easy to read, for his whole life and conversation were con-
sistent. All his opinions and actions might be securely
predicted by a good observer on short acquaintance. My
classmate at Cambridge, Frederick King, told me from Gov-
ernor Gore, who was the doctor’s classmate, that in college
he was called Holy Ripley.
And now, in his old age, when all the antique Hebraism
‘and its customs are passing away, it is fit that he, too,
should depart, — most fit that in the fall of |]
: : aws a loyal
man should die.
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